Proposed $40M budget raises taxes, boosts staff and wages

Average homeowner will pay $43 more; county gains more than a dozen jobs.

The average Bastrop County homeowner will pay $43 more in taxes under Bastrop County’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018-19.

Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape presented the county’s $40 million budget, which includes a 1-cent ad valorem tax rate reduction, but due to property values increasing on average by 6 percent this year, the average homeowner will pay more on the tax bill.

The county’s proposed tax rate will drop from 58.97 cents to 57.99 cents per $100 property valuation. Because of the 6 percent increase in home values this year — the county’s average home value in 2018 is $185,683 — the county would collect more than $1 million in additional revenue from property taxes.

For property owners in Bastrop County to not have a tax increase on their annual bill, the county would have to adopt the effective rate — 57.59 cents — which would impose the same total taxes as the previous year when compared to properties taxed in both years.

The proposed budget adds more than a dozen jobs, as well as more than $500,000 to the sheriff ’s budget.

The biggest winners of Pape’s proposed budget include the roughly 100 jailers and deputies of the Bastrop County sheriff’s office, all of whom will receive a 5 percent salary increase on average.

“I think this budget goes the second mile in making sure that our law enforcement departments are being taken care of,” Pape said during the release of his proposal.

The 5 percent raise will be added to jailers’ and deputies’ salaries through an aggregation of increases. A 1 percent increase will be added to all law enforcement officers’ base salaries; 1 percent will be added the increased cost of living; a $600 per year cellphone stipend will be given; and all officers and jailers will be eligible for up to a 4 percent merit-based raise.

The starting salary for a deputy is $46,922 and for a jailer is $40,690, according to the figures from the county’s Human Resources Department.

A point of friction during early budget discussions was salary increases for other personnel. The county awarded the 1 percent pay increase for increased cost of living to all county employees, but some department directors felt that some of their employees deserved more.

Requests from the human resources department, the county treasurer’s office and the district court asked for salary increases for select employees. Last week, Pape hesitated at the idea of awarding those raises, preferring to keep the budget as conservative as possible, he said.

“We’re all busy, and some of us have been busier this year than ever before because of circumstances beyond our control,” Pape explained. “That’s what we do, and I don’t know that every year when we happen to be busy we can justify adjusting a base salary, because when you don’t get so busy in the future, it’s pretty hard to take that money back.”

But, after a meeting Friday with three district court judges who urged Pape to reconsider a salary bump for court coordinators and court administrators, he concurred.

“I can’t say no to three district judges,” Pape said.

On Monday, he revised his position against salary adjustments and detailed plans to assemble a committee to consider each request case-by-case. The committee will be composed of Human Resources Director Michele Walty, County Auditor Lisa Smith, Pape and one commissioner.

The committee will make recommendations to the Commissioners Court for final approval. The court will have a hearing on the budget Sept. 5 before it is submitted for final approval Sept. 10.