BIGGEST BUDGET IN HISTORY FOR 2016

Been a good while since my last blog, but it has not been because there has been nothing to blog about.  Its just that my Mother always taught us to just not say anything if you can't say something nice.

There has been a great deal going on since my last blog in July.  Since then we have adopted a budget, lost two more county officials and finalized the ballot for the March primary.

I’ll leave the officials alone because I don’t really know all the facts and issues involved.  Lots of rumors going around and some claim to know all the facts, but there are so many variations floating around it’s hard to define the truth.  Some say the Judge took them down because of past conflicts, but I truly do not believe that.  Most of what I do believe is that there was some inappropriate behavior on their part that led to their demise.

On the budget note it is easy to define the truth because it is all on paper.  However, it is hard to add it all up.  The Judge has been preaching doom and gloom again with the situation with Luminant and their pending bankruptcy and relating how broke Milam County is.  So broke in fact that more county positions in mandated offices and optional offices were cut.  You got to give him credit for being consistent with his doom and gloom theory.  That’s his story and he is sticking to it.

With these cuts savings should have been somewhere in the 200,000 dollar range.  Yet, the general fund which should have seen these savings went up right at 45,000 dollars.  In addition the 2016 budget is the highest budget in Milam County history.  You can check all this with the County Auditor’s Office.

Now the funny part to this is that there was a move, a brilliant move in my opinion I might add, made by Commissioner Donald Shuffield to not adopt the Judge’s proposed 2016 budget.  His motion if approved would have kept the 2015 budget for the 2016 budget year.  You just had to be there to see the circus that erupted after he made his motion.

Commissioner Shuffield was visually verbally chastised by the Judge for voicing his opinion.  Yet Shuffield’s motion would have made for a smaller budget, kept the Veterans Office employee and all mandated office employees in place and basically been in line with the Judge’s statements that the county is in dire fiscal shape. It just does not compute to me.

Granted the Judge is correct in assuming one scenario that Luminant pays nothing and the county will be in dire fiscal straits.  He also used the capital murder trial as an excuse to cut positions in past years.  He was advised that the case would most likely plead out and it did.  There was also the rumor of Luminant going bankrupt before it actually did which again was a reason to cut.  Three years of cutting and we have the highest budget in Milam County history.

Well at least it is a new year.  We made it through 2015.  Now we just have to hope and pray for a Happy New Year in 2016.  Heavy on the pray.