Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS — The Hays County Commissioners Court hosted its final budget workshop and discussed a new tax rate at its Aug. 19 meeting.
Budget workshop
Council for the Indigenous and Tejano Community
Gina Rogers, a founding member, stated that the Council for the Indigenous and Tejano Community is seeking $35,000. Prior to the discussion of the budget, Rogers played a video detailing the accomplishments that have been achieved during the first half of the year, following the opening of the museum in the Historic Downtown Courthouse.
“This museum is a shining star dedicated to generations of ancestors who have walked these halls before us. We’ve surpassed our expectations, with visitors averaging 75 to 100 persons during the four hours we’re open on a given Saturday,” said Rogers.
Additionally, the council has participated in the annual Indigenous Cultural Back to School Bash, received an invitation to speak at a conference and recognized two school teachers in Hays CISD with a grant.
Some of the money requested would go toward renovating the San Pedro Cemetery in San Marcos, which would include restoring the historical pillars, replacing the dilapidated fence and creating stabilization of the roadway on Highway 21, which would require a condition assessment.
“I fully support what you all do and I’ve always voted for the increases you have gotten on the base funding,” said commissioner Walt Smith. “[But] if we look through our social services, you are really the only organization that we have, in the past, we fully funded the organization … I just really encourage you to go out and try to secure additional funding. We’re not the only ones paying the tab.”
Vertical infrastructure needs
Hays County budget officer Vickie Dorsett explained that she has created a list of vertical infrastructure needs within the county, which include:
Moving into the design phase on the Hays County Eastside Campus Project
Animal services building
A due diligence agreement for the Precinct 4 building
Despite having some funding set aside, it is not enough to fully cover the costs, said Dorsett.
To mend this, the county would use a certificate of obligations (COs). Dan White Miller, Hays County financial advisor, explained that the timeline for obtaining COs for the projects would be efficient, with the possibility of the funds being available as early as Nov. 25. The amount issued will be determined by what the tax rate is approved as by the commissioners.
“My support continues to be strong for the commissioners’ work that has been ongoing for the east campus and the pet resource center, which is grossly, urgently needed. If we’ve got to push the others to [20]27, so be it because I don’t want to overburden our residents,” emphasized Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra.
Health Services Clinic
The Community Action Health Services Clinic has been in business since 1968 and operates with seven full-time employees that serve approximately 1,450 new patients each year, according to a presentation by grant consultant David Wiley.
These patients receive a variety of services, including women’s exams, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, pap smears, diabetes screenings, pregnancy testing, birth control services and more.
“I want to call to your attention the birth control devices that we provide. I don’t know how familiar you are with the cost of those, but the long acting, reversible contraceptives are $1,000 per device. We’re constantly in search for funds. That’s the reason for coming to visit with you today,” said Wiley. “The $70,000 we’re coming to you for is one of three or four funding sources that we have. We spread our net pretty wide. The federal Title X funds we’ve been getting for years, it requires us to see everybody who walks in the door. They were frozen from February to April of this year … That led to us being within two weeks of having to shut our doors.”
Wiley also explained that, despite attending to the numerous uninsured patients from Hays County, the clinic has never received any reimbursement. The money requested would allow the clinic to break even.
Smith stated, after the presentation, that it would have “been nice” to have the information that the clinic was close to shutting down when the court was going through the initial budget process.
“We were not planning on being shut down in February,” said Wiley. “If you can anticipate that the federal government is going to do a shut down — an unannounced shutdown — five months in advance, I would like to have that information, as well.”
Kyle Area Senior Zone
According to Cynthia Bentley, public relations, the county has been providing the Kyle Area Senior Zone (KASZ) with $12,000 annually for the past 10-15 years. The organization is celebrating 20 years in February 2026 and hopes to continue to “supply their mission in supporting adults 50 and older, disabled adults and the caregiving community. KASZ has also begun to bridge generations to generations with integral programs, helping foster healthy interaction between ages, allowing for sharing of stories and positive mental health.”
Bentley stated that the interest rate of the $12,000 has diminished and has been stretched thin, so KASZ is now asking for $20,000. This would be used to aid in providing hot meals and other services for the older adults, as their population is growing, with five to 10 new members joining each week.
“If we are charging seniors $6 for a meal and we are paying between $9-10 per meal and we are feeding the seniors every week for the entire year, if you add that up, you get a figure. You will see [that] we are in the negative, almost $4,000,” explained Bentley, who stated that despite holding fundraisers, they are “getting kind of old,” as there are only so many ways to raise money.
Commissioner Morgan Hammer questioned whether the city of Kyle provides funding, which Bentley stated that it does not because they provide a building for the services.
District Clerk’s Office
District clerk Amanda Calvert stated that she initially requested proper compensation for retention of staff, as well as three additional staff members to have a sufficient amount, though, after reviewing the budget, she stated that there has been a change in the employees.
The Treasurer’s Office will have two employees that will remain in her office, despite the department moving locations, as it will be better for the residents. Despite this, Calvert emphasized that this does not alleviate the need for the requested staff members. If anything, she continued, it creates the need for more supervisors.
“We were recommended to get one additional position, [a] senior clerk. I would request that position be changed to a chief deputy clerk, so we can have that balance in our structure, as far as supervision,” she said.
Additionally, Calvert stated that the salary for the chief deputy clerk would be listed at $48,697, while the market average is $79,166. She was shocked at the pay, considering the market average was based on a source approved by commissioners.
“I come asking for this, not as a desire, but as a necessity to retain excellent and extremely knowledgeable staff,” said Calvert.
The district clerk also requested money for training services.
“I really appreciate you advocating for fair pay because you are right; we are a great place to work,” said Becerra. “They shouldn’t be penalized because we are. Since we are, we should continue to fight for — this is the body to do it — fair pay within the regional footprint and not necessarily historically.”
Office of Emergency Services
Mike Jones, Office of Emergency Services director, requested additional deputies for the Fire Marshal’s Office, since the investigations take so long, as well as a Ford F150 vehicle replacement.
“This will get [an employee] out of that Tahoe, away from the nasties, from all those carcinogens they pick up when it comes to evidence collection and keep it in the back of the truck, where it belongs,” said Jones, who also requested a hazmat truck.
Additionally, a custom-built “one-stop shop app” was presented for an upfront cost of $41,000 — and a $14,000 annual maintenance fee — which would allow information to be stored, such as class registration, checkouts, background checks, action plans and more for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
In response to the additional deputy request, commissioner Smith stated that he would like to see the efficiency in investigations increase with these new employees: “The one place I see it dragging more than anywhere is in the Fire Marshal’s Office. The reason behind that is because of the lack of personnel and the fact that those who are there are having to conduct these investigations,” he said. “I support the extra positions because I know we’re going to have to have them by state law, but there are things we need to be doing in that office that could help facilitate and lessening of the workload that I know is coming at them.”
Countywide Operations
Also requesting two additional positions was Tammy Crumley, director of Countywide Operations. She stated that these would be housed in the recycling department, as the team was reduced to three employees to cover two sites after two were on leave and one was sick. This caused a manager that was on vacation to cut it short to come to work in order to prevent one lone employee working on a site, “which is unacceptable and unsafe.”
“Our current staffing levels leave no room for flexibility and any absences, planned or unplanned, can quickly compromise our ability to operate safely and effectively,” Crumley explained. “Adding just one full-time position in FY 26 would allow us to have a floating team member to help, ensuring each shift is consistently staffed with the minimum of three employees required for our safe operations.”
Justice of the Peace offices
Representing all of the justices of the peace in the county was JP 2-2 J.R. Mendoza.
“While we couldn’t get everybody here, they all support our concerns for salary for our staff,” said Mendoza. “For years, and including this budget cycle, judges, including myself, have made multiple staff salary increase requests … After providing a request, we were met with the most common question: What additional duties are your staff doing to warrant an increase? I made note that a salary increase should not only be about performing extra duties.”
Despite this, Mendoza clarified that the Budget Office, the Human Resources Department and the Compensation Committee continued to focus solely on duties and did not grant the increase. So, they are asking again for salary increases for their staff.
According to Mendoza, the County Court-of-Law and District Court staff receive higher compensation, despite the JP offices having criminal and civil cases, as well.
“Our staff perform almost all the duties that court staff in the County Court-of-Law and District Court perform … I spent time looking at the job descriptions for our justice clerks and court administrators [and] months ago, I came to understand [that] our staff perform more duties and are required to have exceptional knowledge in more areas than many other areas within the county,” said Mendoza.
This fact and more, such as the JP officers handling twice as many cases as the other courts, justify an increase, he continued.
“Hopefully, we can support the work that y’all [do]. I understand the need,” said commissioner Michelle Cohen.
Purchasing
The commissioners court approved Purchasing staff to be the authorized agent on all county-owned vehicles Jan. 6, and, then, Purchasing staff was authorized to be the agent on all lease vehicles May 6, according to Stephanie Hunt, Purchasing agent. Because of this, Hunt requested a fleet coordinator position, which would manage the license plates, fuel cards, insurance, transportation of the vehicle and more.
This position would serve the entire county, as opposed to the fleet coordinator in Countywide Operations, which is strictly dedicated for that department.
“My biggest concern is that sure, statutorily, whatever responsibilities fall on Stephanie, we have somebody in Stephanie’s office that has to answer to her that is ensuring those things are taken care of,” said Smith.
Neighborhood Defender Services
The Neighborhood Defender Services (NDS) “provides public defense representation and related services exclusively to immigrants who have been arrested as part of the State of Texas’ Operation Lone Star program,” according to its website.
Since opening the location on Wonder World Drive in San Marcos, Shannon Anglero, interim deputy director, stated that the organization has been asked to identify gaps in services and opportunities for additional community resources. To abide by this request, NDS has put together a list of what immediate needs and requests are to support the current defense work.
These requests include two attorneys and a supervising investigator.
One of the reasons for this need is due to the complex cases that get assigned to NDS, where, often, the attorneys are the fifth or sixth to be assigned to the case, said NDS managing director Meenu Walters. Additionally, the staffing was initially based on a 2015 study.
“Another thing that we have identified that’s factoring in is that there are long waits at the jail for our attorneys to meet with clients and also for just the defense bar,” said Walters, adding there are currently 800 open cases for five attorneys and two supervisors.
While waiting to speak to clients, Walters continued, the attorneys are unable to access their work, as there is no internet available at the jail, which is another challenge faced.
“The no internet piece, there’s no excuse to hear that you are going to the jail with no internet with legal representation; that’s absurd. That’s absolutely ridiculous [and] I will get to the bottom of that,” stressed Becerra.
Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe also requested a list of services, outside of the immediate needs, that are priority to move along programs for the organization.
Human Resources
Human Resources director Erik Granjeno provided a benchmark adjustment proposal based on a four-month study conducted to evaluate compensation market competitiveness.
The following recommendations were made:
Increase salary grade 110 by 6% and every subsequent grade by 5%, bringing the lowest hourly rate in the county to $16.80
Move civilian positions that were benchmarked to their respective grades based on market results
Move civilian positions that will face compression or internal equity concerns
Benchmark the remaining 60% of positions with current approved market sources
Identify and recommend new market sources to use for FY 27
These changes would amount to $5,030,350.
Granjeno also proposed a phased approach, which would total $2,523,589.
Finally, a third option was presented, which would not move any positions based off of the study, but would increase salary grade 110 by 3% and each grade after by 5%, as well as bring the lowest hourly rate to $16.27. Each civilian would also have a 3% benchmark effective Oct. 1. This recommendation would amount to $1,344,175.
“Our employees are the backbone to our organization. I know in past years, we delayed a lot of these studies or implementation plans. It certainly is not what I want to do. I think that it is important, even if we went with [a] proposed 6% across the board, and then, we can talk about whether it's done on the anniversary date or whether it's done on Oct. 1,” said Ingalsbe.
Tax rate discussion
Following the final budget workshop, the commissioners discussed the possible tax rate for the upcoming year.
“I think the big ticket items are going to be your vertical infrastructure, the salary chart — whether you want it to be Oct. 1, anniversary date — and the PDO proposal for immediate needs,” said Dorsett.
Regarding the infrastructure projects, Dorsett said that she recognized that the Hays County Eastside Campus Project and the Pet Resource Center are the priorities, but that the county needs to consider the Precinct 4 building because of the due diligence agreement.
“If we close on that property in six months, which is what the expectation would be, we could have all our offices moved in by the end of the year, if we have renovation or at least targeted to hit it by the end of the fiscal year,” said Smith. “My concern is that by the time we close on that property, we want to have a funding agreement with the city of Dripping Springs to pay for it. It won’t hit this fiscal year. It won’t hit for probably two fiscal years.”
The commissioners needed to determine whether the property would be purchased in this upcoming fiscal year or not, said Dorsett. If the answer is “no,” the $25 million can go toward the other projects, with $20 million needed for the campus project and $2 million for design of the shelter.
“Those are my top two priorities. If we have to only run for those, while we cook the rest of it, then that’s the way we go as a pushing off point,” said Becerra.
According to Dorsett, the county could approve a resolution to issue $100 million in COs because there are several projects that would reach this amount within the three-year required timeframe.
Hammer stressed that the commissioners should look at how this may affect the residents.
Initially, the recommended tax rate for the FY 26 budget was at $0.3925, said Dorsett, but with the proposed issuance, the tax rate would rise $0.00525 for a total of $0.3977. According to Hammer, this would be an additional approximately $218 per year for the average homeowner in the county.
Next, Dorsett stated that for the NDS requests for immediate needs — the additional employees — she was able to find money in the budget for $250,000, but there would still be remaining $224,230 to be covered to fulfill the ask.
Because there are no other funds, Dorsett explained that the tax rate would have to increase again, if commissioners wanted to move forward with the $474,230 request.
Becerra noted, again, that he would be willing to leave off some of the infrastructure projects — everything except the Hays County Eastside Campus and the animal shelter — in favor of the NDS requests, as “the people need the highest and most urgent representation in every setting.”
“It’s a hard thing to do because we can approach from, ‘Hey, what do we feel comfortable with residents being able to take on — average residents in Hays County on a monthly basis — what does it look like?’ And then, go backwards from that or do we need to fund all of these things and move forward and find out what our tax rate is from there,” prompted Hammer.
The commissioners continued the discussion from Hammer’s second suggestion of discussing a higher tax rate of $0.3999, which would add an additional $228 per year for the average homeowner in Hays County.
“We are going to [use this tax money] to work on giving more legal support, more office support, more constable support, more sheriff support, more patrol vehicle support, more all of the above support with [that],” said Becerra.
The commissioners also discussed and supported other requests, such as $60,000 for Prevent A Litter, a nurse practitioner for the Hays County Health Department, $1,000 for the Dripping Springs Public Library and adding a deputy for Precinct 5 and a bailiff for Precinct 1.
“At the end of the day, we have to understand that whenever we set this rate, with the growth that we’re seeing here, we’re setting ourselves up for what all these future plans are that we have,” said Smith. “Once we set a base rate like this, hopefully we can maintain it a little while.”
Inglasbe motioned to set the FY 26 tax rate at $0.3999, with $0.2544 for general maintenance and operation rate, $0.1029 for debt rate and $0.0426 for road and bridge rate.
The proposed tax rate and FY 26 budget passed unanimously on first reading, but a public hearing and second reading on both will occur at 1 p.m. Sept. 16.
To listen to the discussion visit bit.ly/4oKnbxM.
