On Monday morning, September 9th, Llano County Commissioners held a regular court session and held hearings to approve the proposed FY2025 budget.
Judge Cunningham announced the Call for Public Participation on the budget hearing, then skipped ahead to the regular session agenda, giving time for commenters to arrive.
The Commissioners unanimously passed the motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented, then moved to Public Announcements. Commissioner Raschke announced the next Fall Residential Bulk Collection Event on Saturday, October 12th from 8am - noon at the East Llano County Annex. “This is the big one where we take batteries (non-rechargeable), tires, appliances (even ones with freon), electronics, oil … no paint though, it’s too expensive,” she specified.
The county burn ban was next on the table, which is where it stayed. The burn ban will remain lifted as of September 4th. Approval of the Llano County 4H Beyond Ready Proclamation was also tabled.
Because no one had signed up for Public Participation, the court went back to Agenda Item 2 at 9:05am, the Public Hearing on Llano County’s Proposed FY2025 Llano County Budget. There are a few projects from the current budget that may not be complete by the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. If not, these projects - including the Courthouse roof replacement ($133,000), the installation of new Motorola car and body cams for Llano PD ($550,000), the delivery of new Tahoe’s for the Sheriff’s Dept. ($200,000) - and their allocated funds would be rolled over into the 2025 Budget. After hearing these details, Commissioner Moss motioned to approve the Proposed FY2025 Llano County Budget, second by Commissioner Jones, and passed unanimously.
Agenda Item 4 was approved next. Commissioner Raschke motioned that Llano County ratify the proposed new tax revenue increase reflected in the approved FY2025 Llano County Budget, second by Commissioner Sandoval. Commissioner Jones commented that “the increase year-over-year is almost 1.4 million, a 7.2% increase, however the majority of that is from new properties that have been built in the county over the past year, which has provided that increased revenue.”
Judge Cunningham then dropped down to Agenda item 13, saving the Tax Hearing for later in the session. The action item to approve the Resolution adopting the early additional penalty on delinquent Llano County business personal property and mobile home accounts as provided for in Tax Code Section §33.11 would allow the tax office to start collections in April rather than in June, which would alleviate some burden from the tax office in July. It also gets that money into the coffers quicker. After discussion with the tax office, the court motioned to approve the Resolution.
Next, an update was given on Construction Projects (EMS Stations, Tax Office Extension at East Annex, and USDA Criminal Justice Center Grant), but no action was taken. The court then motioned to accept a donation of $100.00 from the Women's Culture Club to be placed in the Library Donation to be used for the Llano Library.
Items 16 and 17 pertaining to the Commissioners Court meeting and holiday schedule were both approved. Items 19 and 20 also passed, which approved the 33rd/424th Judicial District Court Administrative Order Setting Compensation and Expenses of Court Reporters, Auditor and Assistants of Llano County. Then the court approved the 33rd/424th Judicial District Court Administrative Order Qualifying Kelly Eckhardt to serve as Llano County Auditor, a “lifetime appointment,” they joked.
Next passed was Item 22, the approval of Western Surety Company Bond for Deputy Sheriff Harry Allen Miley, Jr., who started his career in Llano, moved to Granite Shoals, and has now returned to Llano.
Item 23, the approval of the expenditure of the remaining Senate Bill 22 grant funds to be used
for the purchase of standardized rifles for the Llano County Sheriff's Office in an amount not to
exceed $50,000 passed unanimously. “If you didn’t know, we’re trying to get long guns for all the deputies,” said Judge Cunningham. The money for this is already in the budget, but leftover funds from the grant can be used to get a PO going for the firearms and ammunition before September 30th.
After hearing and approving replats tabled from August 26th, the court opened the Public Hearing for Llano County's Proposed FY2024 Llano County Tax Rate at 9:35 am. No public comments were made and so they moved to Agenda Item 6: Approve the Proposed FY2024 Llano County Tax Rate. Commissioner Jones said, “looking at the budget, we plan to end up with a significantly higher amount of reserves on balance. Looking at the mix, we will run a deficit budget to use funds that are in excess on reserves so that we can then reduce the tax rate. Even though you see a deficit budget, that is more than made up for by the reserves that we have,” he said.
Motion 1 by Raschke, that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of .25012, which is effectively a 2.32 percent increase in the tax rate, was passed. Motion 2 by Raschke, that Llano County adopt a tax rate for Debt Service of 0.1794, was passed. Motion 3 by Raschke, that Llano County adopt a tax rate for M&O of 0.20518 for General M&O and 0.02700 for Road & Bridge, was passed, with the commissioners citing their full names along with their “Aye.”
Agenda Item 7, Approve Order to adopt Llano County Tax Rate for FY2024, was the final task in open session. Commissioner Raschke motioned that the Commissioners Court approve the order, which was second by Moss and approved unanimously.
The court went into closed session at 9:42 am to receive legal counsel on a number of items.
When court returned, no actions were taken and the meeting was adjourned at 10:41 am.
