Commissioners approve budget

By Curtis Chubb

Special to the Herald

The 2017 budget for Milam County is signed, sealed, and delivered.   

The Milam County Commissioners Court on Monday voted unanimously to adopt the 2017 budget as it is presented on Milam County’s website.

According to Milam County Judge David Barkemeyer, the income shortfall for this year may be only $500,000 instead of the previously forecasted $1.8 million. The county is now determining how it can use property taxes that have been collected for next year to cover the shortfall for this year. If this financial maneuver is successful, the county will not need to consider short-term loans from banks.

The commissioners court adopted a tax rate of $.70 per $100 valuation. The 7.4 percent increase in the property tax rate was made necessary due to the ongoing revenue problems caused by Luminant’s challenge of their properties’ appraisal value. There has been no indication about when the legal wrangling will be concluded.

A representative of the Three Missions Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution attended Monday’s meeting to encourage the commissioners court to proclaim the week of Sept. 17-23 as Constitution Week. The United States Congress established Sept. 17-23 as the week dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week in 1956. The congressional action was in response to a DAR petition.

According to DAR, “…the aims of the celebration are to (1) emphasize citizens’ responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution, preserving it for posterity; (2) inform the people that the Constitution is the basis for America’s great heritage and the foundation for our way of life; and (3) encourage the study of the historical events which led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787.”

You may wonder why Sept. 17 was selected to start Constitution Week. The United States Constitution was adopted and signed on Sept. 17, 1787.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Jeff Muegge’s motion to adopt the proclamation was approved by a unanimous vote – and Three Missions Chapter of the DAR representative Lue Wenzel expressed appreciation on behalf of the DAR.

In other business, the commissioners court:

• Listened to a report by Interim Tax Assessor/Collector Sherry Mueck about the improvements in the tax office prompted by a special audit that was completed earlier this year.

• Approved the 2017 salaries for Milam County Auditor Danica Lara ($48,996/year) and District Court Reporter Angela Ralston ($63,648/year) with the caveat that the 2 percent increases reflected by the approved salaries are contingent upon the Luminant appraisal challenge being denied.

• Approved 13 county holidays for 2017.

• Tabled final decision about the addressing of two private roads.

• Approved Precinct 2 Commissioner Donald Shuffield’s request to sell a 10 KW (kilowatt) generator manufactured by Libby Welding due to hard-to-find replacement parts.

• Approved the Deputation of Esther Vargas for work in the District Clerk’s Office.