Williamson County offices ask forworkers, equipment

GEORGETOWN— Wishing for new staff. Hoping for more furniture. Waiting for three more months.

Key Williamson County officials detailed what they’d like to be able to purchase with next year’s budget in a Tuesday commissioners court hearing. They won’t find out if their requests are granted until the end of August, when the court is scheduled to adopt the county budget.

Take population growth and add it to past conservative budgets, officials said, and the result is that staff get stretched to their limit. Seven county departments asked for more employees during the hearing.

Additional staff are needed to watch over a separate area in the Williamson County Jail for 17-yearolds, said Kurt Showalter, the sheriff ’s office financial manager. The sheriff ’s office also hasn’t hired a detective since 2006 and needs one who specializes in narcotics, Showalter said.

The sheriff ’s office is requesting 22 more employees, which would cost an estimated $2.3 million, not including insurance.

Magistrate Tom Eastes said a third such judge is needed so one is on the clock all 24 hours of the day. In Texas, magistrates are responsible for informing arrested people of the accusations against them and their rights, among other duties.

Recently, a 17-year-old arrested on a Thursday night was more or less forgotten, and was not seen by a magistrate until Saturday night, Eastes said.

County commissioner Lisa Birkman noted that adding staff is not a one-time payment.

“In my 10 years here, we’ve never laid off anybody,” Birkman said. “We typically don’t lay off people, so let’s make sure that if we add people, we understand that it’s an ongoing expense.”

County officials’ wish lists also included items ranging from a table and a scanner to $105,000 for replacing servers and about $75,000 for digital storage.

Earlier this year, commissioners directed county staff to stay within the current property tax rate — 48.9 cents per $100 in assessed value — when putting together a proposed budget

Preliminary 2014 figures from the Williamson Central Appraisal District show a 10.6 percent increase in property values. That’s twice as high as commissioners expected, meaning that the same tax rate would draw millions of dollars more than anticipated.

Still, county budget officer Ashlie Koenig said she won’t add anything unnecessary to the recommended county budget, which will be released mid-July.