As of Tuesday’s vote by the Commissioners Court most elected county officials will get a pay raise effective October 1. The deciding vote for the proposed salaries for elected officials was cast by Commissioner Barry Burton who said it was not a decision he made quickly.
The Commissioner who was also the swing vote on increasing the proposed tax rate to 60.32 cents per $100 valuation on August 9 indicates he wants to keep the county’s options open until all the budget figures are final. Burton reminds that on both the proposed tax rate and the salaries for elected officials the Court can still lower them, but the Commissioners could not raise them from the proposed levels agreed upon. When they finalize the budget is when Commissioner Burton will make his final decision.
At the beginning of the budget workshops the county was facing a $5.7 million deficit. Tuesday of this week the deficit appeared to be reduced to $775,000 not counting the proposed salary increases according to Burton, but since then County Auditor Mary Johnson presented a projected budget with a $2.8 million deficit. In less than two weeks the Commissioners Court will vote to give final approval to the elected officials’ salaries and the tax rate.
Burton makes the criteria clear for how he will vote at that time. He will not vote for a pay increase for any elected officials if it means an increase in taxes for Orange County citizens. If the salary increase can be done without a tax increase he will vote as he did this week, if not he would favor keeping salaries unchanged. Burton emphasizes there are still several days of budget deliberations before determining what his vote is going to be.
Two budget hearings are scheduled in the next week; September 6 at 6 PM and September 9 at 9 AM. The Commissioners Court will vote at its September 13 meeting on adopting the tax rate and the salaries for elected officials in next year’s budget. The county’s budget for 2016-2017 will be approved at the September 27 meeting of the Commissioners.
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