County Delays Action On Jail, Sheriff’s Office Emergency Budget Amendments

Van Zandt County Commissioners recessed its meeting until Wednesday morning hoping to get some answers on budget expense overages for the county jail and sheriff’s office.

The overages were among a list of emergency budget amendments brought before the commissioners and county judge Rhita Koches.

However, a couple of commissioners expressed alarm about the estimated $77,000 needed on the county jail budget and $108,000 for the sheriff’s office.

"Anytime you make a budget, the person in charge needs to understand that’s what is here," Precinct 4 Commissioner Ron Carroll said.

"There needs to be some cutting back and keeping control of it (spending)," he added.

Van Zandt County Sheriff Pat Burnett, speaking by phone Tuesday afternoon, said some expenditures like fuel were difficult to rein in over the past year.

"Of course with fuel the way it is, the price increases we’ve seen recently, nobody could have budgeted for that at the start of the (fiscal) year," he said.

He also talked about the increases in food prices adversely affecting the jail operations budget.

"Delivery charges went up during the year and the food prices have gone up. There were several weeks we didn’t open a can of anything and (inmates) ate out of what we had grown in our garden," Burnett said, referring to the produce garden at the justice center.

"But we don’t produce chicken and beef out of the garden, or bread, flour or sugar," he added. "Food costs have been more this year, but it is still less than in 2000 when I took the sheriff’s office."

Burnett estimated a cost of $1.88 per day per inmate for three meals last year and expects that statistic to be around $2.00 for fiscal year 2007-2008.

"There are certain things I can’t control like delivery charges, water and electricity charges. I believe the citizens understand that," he said. "The commissioners’ court does an excellent job budgeting for everybody they can."

He said he would not be able to attend Wednesday’s resumption because of a conference he was to attend. George Flowers, chief deputy/jail administrator, and sheriff’s office chief deputy John Turner were expected to represent the two departments in Wednesday’s court resumption.

The court did approve a list of routine budget amendments for several departments, a typical bookkeeping action for the end of a fiscal year.

Also on Tuesday, the commissioners’ court approved the county’s new interlocal agreement with the Texas Association of Counties and its health and employee benefits pool.

In a separate motion, the court chose health insurance start dates, which will be the date of hire for elected officials and 60 days after the date of hire for county employees.

Interim county treasurer Detra Janzen said new county employees are currently added to the health insurance program on the first of the month after a 60-day waiting period.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Virgil Melton Jr. said he preferred a simple 60 days from hiring date option.

"It just seems easier that way. Right now, a new employee could have to wait almost 90 days for the insurance. That’s too long," he said.

Koches pointed out that the TAC program does not allow for pro-rating the cost of adding a new employee to the insurance roll. Someone hired from the first to 15th of a given month would incur a full charge, while someone hired from the 16th to the end of the month would not be charged for that month.

In other matters, the court took the following action:

— awarded a bid to Neylan Bridge of Marquez, Texas, to construct a bridge on Van Zandt County Road 2801 for $61,200.

— approved a 2008-2009 interlocal agreement with the Andrews Center Behavioral Healthcare System.

— approved an interlocal contract with the East Texas Council of Governments for a solid waste management planning grant. It covers three years and provides $30,000 the first year, $20,000 the second and $10,000 for the third year for a litter abatement officer.

— approved a service maintenance agreement with Budget Business Systems for a copier transferred from the Van Zandt County Juvenile Probation Department to the Van Zandt County Judge’s Office.

— approved a resolution to apply for the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense fiscal year 2009 formula grant. Van Zandt County would receive an estimated $28,591.

— approved an imaging agreement between Van Zandt County and Safeguard Imaging Solutions in conjunction with the interlocal agreement with Hunt County previously approved on Aug. 19.

This agreement opens the way for the county to have its real property records before 1997 added to what can be viewed on the county Web site, county clerk Charlotte Bledsoe explained.