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<\/p>\nWhy did elected officials get pay raises while county employees did not in the current budget? And how can the county afford to repair or replace aging infrastructure if the county keeps setting property taxes at the \u201cno new revenue\u201d rate?<\/p>\n
Two of the toughest questions in a county candidate forum came from audience members. The Chamber of Commerce and Plains Cotton Growers hosted candidates Friday for Precinct 2 and Precinct 4 commissioners and county judge.<\/p>\n
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Click here to watch<\/a> the forum on our YouTube channel.<\/p>\n Kody Bessent with PCG moderated the forum. Twice he opened the forum for audience questions.<\/p>\n Candidates who participated<\/p>\n Precinct 2 County Commissioner<\/p>\n Justin Martin<\/p>\n Kevin Pounds<\/p>\n * Incumbent Jason Corley is not seeking re-election to Precinct 2 but running for another office. Candidate Trey Newton did not appear in the forum, though a seat was reserved for him.<\/p>\n Precinct 4 County Commissioner<\/p>\n Jordan Rackler, incumbent<\/p>\n Chad Seay, challenger<\/p>\n C.J. Peterson, challenger<\/p>\n County Judge<\/p>\n Curtis Parrish, incumbent<\/p>\n Wesley Houck, challenger<\/p>\n Pay raises<\/p>\n Seay, who used to be Precinct 4 Commissioner (2018-2022), said in response to the question about pay raises, \u201cI never voted for a raise for our elected officials, not one time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven when that was done, I always turned it back. I had to sign a deal for the auditor\u2019s office \u2013 gave it back,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n Seay said commissioners get paid more than $90,000 per year.<\/p>\n Jordan Rackler, the current commissioner in Precinct 4, said, \u201cState law \u2026 it goes before the Commissioners Court to vote for the elected officials\u2019 pay raise first. And at the time whenever we were going to vote for the elected official pay raise or decline it, I was under the impression that we were given a 3 percent cost of living raise and a 2 percent merit raise.\u201d<\/p>\n The employee pay raise did not happen, but higher salaries for elected officials was already locked in. Rackler declined to take the additional pay.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I did vote for it. I did not accept it,\u201d Rackler said.<\/p>\n \u201cI did it strictly because I knew that the sheriff was underpaid based on sheriffs of his size of the county. And then I\u2019d had constables and I\u2019d had a couple of JPs [justices of the peace] that had asked about [pay],\u201d Rackler said.<\/p>\n C.J. Peterson, challenger in Precinct 4, said, \u201cWithout the employees, all the clerks, the JPs, everybody, the constables \u2013 there wouldn\u2019t be no county without these employees.\u201d<\/p>\n Peterson was previously a constable from January 1, 2015 until August of 2018 when he resigned after a DWI charge.<\/p>\n Peterson said he has a business with 40 employees. Treating them with respect is vital. He said the county should \u201cstep it up\u201d with employee pay. He did not directly address pay raises for elected officials.<\/p>\n Current County Judge Curtis Parrish said, \u201cThe bottom line is, and this was a commitment that I had made from the beginning, that I would not take a salary increase while during my terms of office, and I had not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m okay with giving COLA [cost of living] adjustments to elected officials, but we better give that same COLA adjustment to all of our employees as well,\u201d Parrish said.<\/p>\n His challenger, Wesley Houck, said he is not paid to be a Wolfforth city councilman.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t get paid for our position. It\u2019s a little foreign to me in that regard. One thing I do know with our city is retention of staff is very important. The startup of a new employee, the training, the new equipment, everything, that\u2019s a huge expense and is often much cheaper to make our salaries and wages competitive,\u201d Houck said.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t know what the judge\u2019s salary is. I\u2019ve purposely not looked. I would absolutely not be interested in a raise,\u201d Houck said.<\/p>\n Candidate for Precinct 2, Justin Martin, said, \u201cI knew what this paid when I ran, so of course I would not ever expect a pay increase. \u2026 So, I would not at all accept a pay increase.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin said he might even give some of the salary back just to show he\u2019s not doing it for the money.<\/p>\n Kevin Pounds, also a candidate in Precinct 2, did not address elected officials\u2019 pay. But he did say county employees need to be paid more.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to look at ways to take care of our employees. They\u2019re the ones that are working their tails off. They\u2019re the ones that are out there every day so we all have our services. They have got to be taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n No new revenue rate<\/p>\n On the question of tax rates and the no new revenue rate, Seay said the county needs to work harder to get state and federal grants.<\/p>\n He also said he\u2019s deeply concerned about spending down the county\u2019s reserves. What if a tornado or other natural disaster hits Lubbock?<\/p>\n \u201cEventually, \u2026 something\u2019s going to happen. We\u2019re going to have [the need for] cash up front,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n Rackler said, \u201cI\u2019m going to beat to a different drum because I am one of the commissioners that voted for the NNR [no new revenue rate], and I\u2019m going to say, as somebody that\u2019s looked through the budget, there are places still to cut.\u201d<\/p>\n Peterson said everything is more expensive after COVID and that makes it harder if things need to be replaced or repaired.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure out a way to cut the budget. And if we can\u2019t do that, then eventually it\u2019s going to have to go to the voters [to approve a tax],\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n During the most recent county budget cycle, there was talk of needing to renovate 916 Main, which houses county offices, and the parking garage next to it. Those are multimillion-dollar projects.<\/p>\n Under state law, voters would be called upon for any property tax increase of more than 2.5 percent (the rollback rate) or for a capital projects bond.<\/p>\n Parrish was critical of using the no new revenue rate this current budget cycle and said, \u201cWhat the Commissioners Court decided to do this past year was to cut the Sheriff\u2019s Department by $1.4 million, to cut fire departments by $250,000 in order to balance the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n During budget talks, other commissioners said the sheriff\u2019s budget was cut for housing inmates out of county \u2013 and that amount was unused in the 2024\/25 budget.<\/p>\n Houck said, \u201cDo we just go back to the taxpayers? And I hate that option. Taxes are always the nuclear option. You do everything else you can first.\u201d<\/p>\n Houck also said he wasn\u2019t sure what could be cut in the current budget because, \u201cThe numbers aren\u2019t as clear as I would like them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Parrish pointed out in the forum Lubbock County has been honored for budget transparency by the Texas Comptroller\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n Pounds said, \u201cIf the budget\u2019s as lean as it is, and we have it as lean as it is, there\u2019s not another way. It will fall on the taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t combed through the budget the way some of these gentlemen have been able to, but you go through \u2013 you make as lean as you can. \u2026 If we don\u2019t have enough at the end of the day, then we\u2019ve got to make some hard decisions.\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n Martin said the county must prove the budget is as lean as possible and then go to the voters.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t remember a county bond not passing,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n He suggested not just one bond but a series of bond elections over time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to get a plan every two years and go ahead and shelf-life the next phase of what we\u2019re wanting to do, and \u2026 let the taxpayers decide how they spend their money,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
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