Issues
These are the issues I see in the 2010 campaign for Grimes County Judge. They have substance and they are real, not just "campaign fluff". All are issues we need to address together as a county. We are unlikely to solve them all in the one four-year term of a County Judge but I promise you to do my best to lead us to the solutions and get them resolved.
Leadership
The County Judge is sometimes referred to as the county’s Chief Executive Officer and also as its Chief Financial Officer. In addition to presiding over the county’s business meetings, the Judge has judicial duties, oversees county budget preparation, and has emergency preparedness responsibilities among other duties.
What we are describing is an office expected to provide leadership. Presiding over Commissioners Court is merely a function of the County Judge; it does not indicate a direction or a plan for the county. That requires leadership.
A leader listens; he does not push; he pulls by working for a consensus to reach the county's goals. A leader is even-handed and fair, not authoritarian or dictatorial. If he has to "boss", he is not a leader. There are three things a leader must do: listen, acknowledge and understand the wishes of the citizens, and lead in the direction they want to go. The third, leading, becomes less difficult after doing the first two. The really difficult part for some is listening.
I have been the president or chairman of at least seven organizations, the treasurer for three, and a leading member of four others. Leading is not a new responsibility for me. I know how to do it and I have done it numerous times. I can do it for Grimes County.
Taxes
Last September 29 Commissioners Court, including the Judge, voted to keep essentially the same tax rate we have had for the last five years even though property valuations have steadily increased. The result is that property owner's tax bills have also increased, some significantly. The addition of some new properties to the tax roll and maintaining the same tax rate effectively increased tax revenue by 14.7%. I would think the tax rate should have been lowered considering increased property valuations and the significant revenue increase coming from new properties.
We are in a tough economy with unemployment rising significantly. Grimes County’s unemployment rate is close to doubling since the 3rd quarter of 2008. These tough economic conditions will not go away anytime soon. This is not the time to be raising taxes.
Tax Abatements
Tax abatements should be a serious concern to you as a taxpayer because they are effectively a subsidy awarded at your expense. They can be a real boon to the county's economy. Some are questionable at best and a few cause one to wonder whether they are little more than legal bribes. There are certain economic questions that should be asked of any entity requesting tax abatement. These questions are critical to determining the value of an abatement to the county's citizens.
Are tax abatements given any real economic analysis to determine their value to the citizens? It certainly appears, no, they are not. Economic analysis is something I did for years before my retirement. I studied economics and finance in my formal education also.
I am not against tax abatements. I just want them used in the taxpayers' interest.
County Budget
The county's budget process bothers me. It is more or less a joint responsibility of the County Judge and County Auditor with the judge taking the lead. The whole process including timing needs to be reexamined.
As you would expect, there are priorities to be met in preparing the County's budget. The highest is law enforcement followed closely by the District and County Courts. Then some obligatory departments follow before roads and miscellaneous items can be considered.
I have some thirty years experience in budget procedure, preparation, monitoring, and analysis as well as economic analysis. It is not anything new to me.
Roads
Roads are always a favorite topic. First, let's recognize we probably won't ever have enough money to spend on roads. Prioritizing our needs is about the best we can do to make progress.
One of our highest priorities should be to pave as much road surface as we reasonably can each year. Why? Because paved roads, despite their initial high expense, are far less expensive to maintain than are dirt and gravel roads. It is a long term program that will save money for other needs.
The county needs to address a festering problem with substandard roads in a number of rural subdivisions. These are not county roads so they are ineligible for county maintenance even though some are nearly impassable. In a disaster we would have great difficulty trying to help these folks. These people do pay taxes like the rest of us but receive very little in county services. I have an idea how we could begin to relieve that problem – notice I didn't say solve it – but it will have to be explored with the Commissioners and County Attorney first.
Paving roads and alleviating the problem of substandard roads in ineligible subdivisions will enhance the value of Grimes County property in the long run. That is by way of saying it will enhance our tax base, the most important revenue source for the County.
Planning
Planning is a characteristic and function of a good leader. The question is whether it is being done and how effectively.
Our county has been victimized by outside entities for such things as subdivisions and dump grounds due to lack of foresight and planning. We need to address these problems now to avoid them in the future.
Fortunately, we now have the Grimes County Sub-Regional Planning Commission, often called the "391 Commission", to help guide major projects such as transportation, water development, and solid waste disposal. The 391 Commission’s position seems precarious to me. I will do my best as County Judge to strengthen it and expand its membership. We need this commission to help protect our citizens from outside entities looking to use Grimes County for their own selfish purposes. This commission needs a few more members for stability. I will work to support their efforts.
Emergency Management
We came out of Hurricane Ike suffering more inconvenience than devastation. But it could have easily been the other way around. The county has a part-time Emergency Management Coordinator to plan our response to such events. We need to examine this function to determine whether it needs greater emphasis.
Emergency Management is the responsibility of the County Judge who also appoints the Coordinator. In a disaster this person is the central emergency contact for law enforcement, fire departments, emergency teams, and state and federal agencies. This person and the Judge have a tremendous responsibility during and following a disaster. The Coordinator’s position went vacant for months following Hurricane Ike. We cannot let something like that happen again.
New Courthouse Annex Construction
The subject of constructing a new Courthouse Annex seems to be coming up more often. I say annex rather than courthouse because I would never propose abandoning or modifying our current courthouse. It is an historic monument that should be left untouched for future generations. As badly as we need it, I do not think we should undertake any new construction in the short term because of the current economic uncertainty facing our people and nation. When we do decide to go forward, I want to see it go to the voters in a bond election. I will rule out certificates of obligation – they should only be used in financial emergencies, not as a means to avoid the voters.
Communication
Communication is something of a vexing subject for me. We see too little of it from our county officials. Not long ago the County set up its own website which was a step in the right direction. But we need to do better.
For some time the Judge's office e-mailed the Commissioners Court agenda to those who were interested. That was discontinued in favor of posting a PDF file on the County’s website. Several things puzzle me about this. Firstly, e-mail addresses are so easy to copy and paste into an e-mail message. Why the change putting the burden on the citizen to both remember to check the website and to download the PDF file? Secondly, why switch to PDF files when Word documents are so much easier to work with?
Once in office, I would like to explore some sort of communication about twice a month that would inform the citizenry of Commissioners Court meetings and actions, other county activities, upcoming problems, and other meetings of interest. This could take the form of a newspaper column, a radio spot, and certainly posting on the County's website.