Ellis County Commissioners Court approves budget for 2022-2023

On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Ellis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the county budget for the fiscal year 2022-23.

“There was some good; there was some bad,” Commissioner Kyle Butler said. “There’s been some fixes. I think we’re sure in the right direction.”

Over the past three weeks, the court has discussed various points of the budget, with County Judge Todd Little saying he had worked to make those changes.

The budget increased the cost-of-living adjustment from 6% to 8% for all county employees.

Removed from the budget was a civil attorney position that was created to provide counsel for the court. While the court currently seeks counsel from the district attorney’s office, on occasion it must seek outside counsel. The proposed salary was added to the legal fees section for the court, making that part of the budget a total of $225,000. This will allow commissioners to seek outside counsel when needed.

Little said the budget before the court was updated as of Sept. 13.

Randy Bellamy addressed the court and said he was concerned about a new associate judge position.

“At the immediate, I don’t see the position as one that needs to be a long-term type of situation, but, as we all know, as a government position is established, it’s rarely ever deleted,” Bellamy said. “We need to have one of our district judges or other judges that is elected in that position that is answerable to the public.”

Little said the position was created to be a “temporary bridge until after the next legislature” when a new district court could be sought.

“This associate judge is going to be underneath our family court (currently the 378th District Court),” Little said. “The family court’s docket is being scheduled 12 months or greater. As you are aware, there are a lot of family situations that happen in our families, whether it be removing custody of a child from mom or dad, whether it be some type of drug use problem, whether it be in this particular court, (or) the veteran’s treatment court, which is a new program for veterans that are first time offenders.”

He said the associate judge position was requested by the judiciary to meet the demand and reduce the first line of defense before the more serious cases go before the district judge.

Cherie Batsel, assistant county and district attorney, said the associate judge would only be able to hear specific matters.

Commissioner Paul Perry expressed his concerns for long-term repercussions with the position, saying they needed to be mindful of them.

Commissioner Lane Grayson said he felt they had an out in the future if the associate judge needed to be removed, so he supported the new position.

The budget was approved as presented with a potential line item change of $500,000 relating to the sheriff’s office’s vehicle replacement fund. That change could be made at the court’s upcoming Sept. 30 meeting.

“That vehicle fund is paramount to our success,” Chief Deputy Alex Zurfas said.

Originally published September 23, 2022 - https://www.waxahachiesun.com/business/ellis-county-commissioners-court-approves-budget-for-2022-2023/article_59062f36-3ba7-11ed-ba2b-bb46ca8fa852.html