By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Proposed Ellis County spending in 2022 is nearly unchanged from the previous year while setting aside funds for much-needed infrastructure repairs.
The Ellis County Commission heard budget requests from representatives of the 15 county departments, the 23rd Judicial District and the Ellis County Solid Waste Division in a pair of meetings last week.
The proposed county expenditures in 2022 are $24,410,242. That is an increase of $471,000 over the 2021 budget.
Ellis County Administrator and Fair Chief Darin Myers said some of the departments budgeted increases, some decreases. Overall, the budget remained the same outside of the $400,000 that will be transferred to the special bridge fund and additional $71,000 that will be transferred to the special highway fund.
In 2021, the commission set aside $329,000 for the special highway fund. The additional $71,000 also means the county will transfer $400,000 to that fund in 2022.
Myers said the $400,000 is almost equal to one mil.
In previous years, the money for road and bridge repairs and improvement projects would come from the Public Works budget, but Myers pointed out that $400,000 may resurface one or two bridges per year but it would not pay to redo a bridge deck.
Brendan MacKay, Public Works director, told the commission there are 199 bridges in Ellis County — many over 75 years old.
“Bridges are designed for 75 year service life,” MacKay, “Currently, we don’t have much put away for bridges.”
He added that they may have to look at closing some bridges in the futures because the county cannot afford to repair or replace them.
In March, the commission voted to close a bridge a quarter-mile north of Old Highway 40 on 140th Road.
“We’ve been reactive for long enough, we need to start being proactive on our repairs and maintenance,” MacKay said. “It’s no fault to my predecessor. It was just that how’s things went because budgets were cut for so long and you have to make do with what you have.”
In April of last year, Ellis County voters approved a pair of quarter-cent sales taxes. The revenue from one goes directly to health services in Ellis County.
The other quarter-center tax is a general sales tax that is shared among the county and four cities within Ellis County.
The county commission directed the county’s portion to a $5.4 million bond to help pay for several road projects. That includes a portion of the Northwest Business Corridor, repairs to Cathedral Road in Victoria, 48th Street and Feedlot Road.
Overall, Public Works accounts for $4.7 million in the 2022 proposed budget.
The Emergency Medical Services budget is also among the largest department budgets within Ellis County.
The proposed budget for 2022 is $3.3 million dollars.
Health Services Jason Kennedy told the commission Health Services was able to stay on budget, even during COVID.
He said the additional revenue from the sales tax has been a “huge benefit.”
“With that health care sales tax benefit, we actually were able to kind of toe the low with our EMS budget,” Kennedy said. “We do have an increase in salaries but our total bottom line actually went up less than what the increase in salaries was, so there was decrease to some of the expenditures.”
Most of the decreases came from salaries. There are not only fewer tenured employees but fewer employees overall.
“We are at a point where we have to make some significant changes to the way that we deliver service to this community and we have to make significant changes to the way we recruit and retain employees,” Kennedy said.
He said they currently not even getting enough applicants for the number of open positions they have.
Kennedy said he doesn’t believe that COVID will be drive people to the emergency medical services field. He also said they current climate is driving people away from public service.
“It is pushing people out of the public health sector,” Kennedy said.
In the last three and half years, they have lost seven certified paramedic positions. They have hired just four people.
Kennedy said it is a long process to become a certified paramedic.
They have worked with one person, who is currently in school, to help with schooling with the requirement that they work for Ellis County after graduation.
“We have get good people and then we have to turn those good new people into tenured employees,” Kennedy.
Kennedy has been working with Myers on incentive programs they hope to present to the commission soon.
Kennedy also oversees the health department.
He said they received several COVID-related grants that helped to cover overtime and other personnel costs and it will also allow them to do some unique projects.
One change that they are working on currently is creating a full-time supervision position at the health department.
He said the new clinic manager would run to day-to-day operations at the health department.
Kennedy said it would cost less than $10,000 and the cost will be covered over the next couple of years by COVID related grants.
The commission will consider requests from outside agencies totaling nearly $1 million on June 14.