Hemphill County Commissioners are inviting taxpayers to a public hearing on the proposed tax rate and budget for fiscal year 2023-24. The hearing will begin at 9 am tomorrow, Monday, August 14, in the Commissioners Court meeting room.

The proposed tax rate of $0.450000/$100 is unchanged from last year’s rate. It will, however, bring in more revenue that last year’s rate did, due to an approximately $100 million increase in Hemphill County’s taxable values.

The proposed rate is greater than the no-new-revenue tax rate ($0.384131/$100), but less than the voter-approval tax rate of $0.467016/$100, which would have required Hemphill County to hold an election allowing voters to accept or reject the rate.

“Last year, we had a really significant increase in valuations of over $300 million,” Johnson said. “This year it was over $100 million of taxable value. I was really surprised that values went up for a second year.”

The increase in revenue will be offset, however, by the rising cost of doing business. Health insurance expenses alone have risen 8 percent since last year. As most consumers are aware, the price tags for major expenditures like vehicles, equipment, and fuel have also risen.

The biggest single capital expense facing commissioners in the next fiscal year is a $450,000 jail lock replacement project—the funding for which was first included in this year’s budget. Those funds will carry over to the 2023-24 budget, with an additional $22,000-23,000 for “wiggle room,” Johnson said.

The steel jail locks can be opened with either a key or the electronic locking system controlled by the dispatcher. The system is about 20-25 years old, and is no longer working well, Judge Johnson said, which poses the risk of not meeting state jail standards.

What first seemed like a straightforward project has proven more extensive, leading the court earlier this year to hire an architect to oversee the work. “We bid it out, and are moving forward,” Johnson said, “with the understanding that it’s going to be nine to 12 weeks to get materials.”

Another increase in the budget will go to pay raises for all county positions, including employees and elected officials. Those pay hikes were suggested by county commissioners, who excluded themselves from the raises.

All positions received an across-the-board $1,800 annual pay raise. “That was the biggest raise in the 12 years that I’ve been here,” Johnson said.

Judge Johnson had first lobbied for the across-the-board increase last year, arguing that a percentage pay raise disproportionately favors employees already receiving higher salaries. “If you continue to do percentage raises,” she said, “then the gaps between positions just get larger.”

“[The commissioners] felt like because of inflation…and how families are struggling…they just needed to do something,” she explained. “The cost of every single thing is so much more than it was a couple of years ago.”

“Inflation hits everyone exactly the same,” Johnson said. “And for someone making more to get a larger raise really doesn’t address what inflation does to all of us, and especially to the people that make the least.”

“Our greatest resource, other than revenue, is our people,” the judge said. “This county deserves the best employees we can get, and needs to show appreciation for jobs well done. Nothing destroys morale worse than employees that don’t feel appreciated.”

The county also still has about $270,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds—federal dollars that were allocated to provide economic relief for recovery from the COVID pandemic. “We are hoping to use a portion of that down at the rodeo arena to make some improvements,” Johnson said. “We actually have to have it spent by 2026, so we need to figure out what we’re going to do with it. We’ve been hoping for a project that was a little above and beyond what we would ordinarily do with budget money.”

A community-wide project to build a new swimming pool may be in line to receive some county funding eventually. “I think there’s a consensus that this is a quality of life thing for Canadian,” Johnson said. “How much we want to spend, how we want to pay for it, how we can maintain and staff it—all those things are just big questions that it’s going to take everybody to figure out.”

“The community needs to take ownership of that,” she said. “I think it just fosters that spirit of cooperation, that we are all stakeholders and have ownership of it….and I think that’s a good thing.”

Other capital expenditures figured into the 2023-24 budget were the purchase of a new trailer to haul solid waste to the Pampa landfill ($115,000), and a new motor grader for one precinct ($350,000 w/o trade-in).

Johnson also expressed the county’s strong commitment to funding projects that will expand and strengthen the local economy. “I believe it’s absolutely vital, at this point,” she said, “seeing what’s happening to rural communities with decreasing population, decreasing tax revenue, and [increasing] constraints that the state is putting on us, in regards to generating tax revenue.”

“I think it’s absolutely vital to have an Economic Development Council, and to see them working hard,” Johnson added. “I’ve been extremely encouraged by what I’m seeing happening…the types of projects that they’re willing to look at, that they’re truly open-minded about what sort of things they can do and how we can move forward.”

“I think it’s going to take every [taxing] entity and a lot of community involvement to keep us in the position of having so much to offer. We just have to be open-minded, work together, and be willing to invest,” she concluded. “We have great resources right now. We have a very healthy fund balance, but we are going to have to use that money wisely…not just to sustain us budget-wise, but to truly invest.”