BREWSTER COUNTY –– While a preliminary budget presented to Brewster County Commissioners Court Tuesday still shows a deficit, Brewster County Judge Greg Henington said it’s still too early to know if the county can find savings to close the gap or whether it will need to dip into reserves.
Brewster County commissioners agreed to call a public hearing on the fiscal year 2025 budget and proposed tax rate on August 27. County Treasurer Julie Morton provided figures as they stand now but noted that they could change before being adopted. Morton said she only had revenue figures for the fiscal ‘25 budget at $4,700,000 for property tax collections, which is 96% of the total levy for the county.
At worst, Henington said he could use money in savings to balance the budget. That money should be for needs such as new equipment, but it can be used to balance the budget if enough savings cannot be found elsewhere. But he said the county still is “very liquid. We are in good shape. This is not a crisis.”
The budget discussion followed a presentation by Tourism Council Executive Director Robert Alvarez, who told the court the council had just passed a budget of $1,812,490. “I wish we could get some tourism money but we can’t,” Henington joked. He said “at the end of the day” what we really need is an economic increase in tax revenue.
The court did approve an across-the-board increase of $125.00 per month per employee and agreed to keep salaries unchanged for elected officials. Henington said the across-the-board dollar increase for employees is better than a percentage increase because that would give lower-paid employees a smaller raise than others. Elected officials got a raise last year.
Republican County Chair Monica McBride and Democratic Chair Mary Bell Lockhart both appeared before the court and said this year, remote early voting will be in Alpine only, not in Terlingua, Lajitas or Monahans. In past years the county has provided remote early voting in those communities for only one day. But to provide it now would require all remote voting every day and those polls do not draw enough to make that economically feasible.
In other action, the court approved the Order for Election for the November 5 general election. Alpine voters will be asked for an amended City Charter that Mayor Catherine Eaves and others have been working on it for more than a year.
Former emergency coordinator Stephany Elmore was named to replace Paul Loeffler, who died last month, on the Emergency Services Board. Mary McCallister, Dave Durant and Rusty Hermann are vying for the seat vacated by Carla Spencer. The court will act on that appointment at a later meeting.