Recent budget workshops by our elected officials have revealed that in the past Liberty County’s Democratic county officials got so entrenched in the habit of continuously asking for more money that the new Republican officials and the remainder of Democrats will have to cut their budgets 25%. The money shortage is serious and could take years of watching our spending to straighten out. Readers will see at the end of this report that one of the Democrats still doesn’t get it.
The good news is the crazy spending and the expansion of local government in the past can be remedied in the future. County Judge McNair has proposed consolidating the six Justice of the Peace offices and six Constables into four, which is the number for many other Texas counties. We are one of the few counties with six JPs and six Constables, but the decision to consolidate the offices would take action and final approval by the entire commissioner’s court. “There are no vendettas or anyone out to get anybody.”
County Auditor Harold Seay listed some of the major cuts in each department.
1) County Judge’s budget was cut by $62,000 by eliminating the position former County Judge Phil Fitzgerald added, Special Projects/FEMA manager Dennis Odell will serve his last day at the end of September.. Attorney fees for commissioners court was cut by $70,000.
2) The District Attorney’s office was cut by $150,000 mainly through salaries. The County Court-at-Law budget for court-appointed attorneys was cut by $75,000.
3) The county auditor’s budget was cut by $40,000.
4) Part-time positions in the JP courts 3, 4, 5 and 6 were cut to reduce expenses.
5) The Information Technology department was cut from $143,000 to $75,000.
6) The building maintenance department was cut by $56,000.
7) The fire marshal’s office was cut by $12,000. Of this amount, $10,000 was for meeting attendance by volunteer firefighters.
8) The sheriff’s office received $60,000 in cuts in capital outlays and a $10,000 cut in fuel.
9) Emergency Management was cut by $50,000.
But among all of the talk of cuts and shared sacrifice Precinct 1 Commissioner Todd Fontenot reminded us that there are still officeholders in our county government who would like to charge things and claim they are long term money savers. It reminds many of us of the Democrats and the RINO Republicans in Washington DC. Fontenot again requested $81,000 in funds to build a two-acre yard/facility which would house equipment and store materials. Fontenot was warned several years ago if he pushed for redistricting precinct #1 commissioner boundaries across the river that he would come back whining for taxpayers to build him a second barn to store county equipment. Well now he wants to charge a county that is having money troubles for formulating a district to suit his political strategy. According to his own figures, Fontenot’s impractical economically unfeasible redistricting scheme has cost the county over $250,000. It is a sink hole that keeps adding extra expenses to taxpayer.
Todd Fontenot is up for re-election in 16 months and if he decides to face the voters after all of the drunken sailor-like spending, the private parking, and his expensive waste of taxpayer money in the last redistricting, we will get a chance to let him know how much we love this county by voting him out of office.
In the meantime, instead of building Todd Fontenot a building, how about using this time of redistricting the commissioners’ precincts more wisely and with the taxpayer in mind rather than the politicians.
13 comments:
Goodbye Todd, you have over stayed your visit as our County Commisioner. You voted right along with your buddies Phil and Lee on all the FEMA FIASCO, so what was your cut out of that deal?
In reference to the County Court appointed attorney salary/budget cut. How does a Court appointed attorney program work anyway?
Whether it be County or District, does the attorney get paid by the client, as well as the County and/or State?
And in such a scenario, is the attorney actually working for the client and for what is in the best interest of the client, or does the attorney feel a certain obligation to the State, perhaps, a closed door type mentality? Maybe, " a whisper in the ear"...you know in a " shush, shush manner?"
It appears in many cases a naive client ( in regards to legal matters ) could quickly find themselves on a very slippery slope... potentially a very dangerous one, if say, this client gets caught up in such an avalanche, per say.
Is a Court appointed attorney required to follow the same Rules of Professional Conduct in regards to ETHICS, as say, an attorney who is hired by a client paying them " MO MONEY?" ( Personally, I would answer YES to that question.)
However, the real question here is, " How would the attorney answer this question, or better yet, how would the State Bar of Texas answer? "
All accurate and mature feedback in regards to this post is welcomed.
The public "servant" should not be allowed to set things up in re-ditricting that does anything other than favor the taxpayer.
Todd Fontenot has not been theworst commissioner we have ever had. That title would be reserved for his buddy precinct #2 commissioner Lee Groce.
Democrats NEVER looked at re-districting through the lens of money saving. they always looked at it thinking of votes and power.
the definition of 'political power' hasn't changed: how much money, and how many people, one controls.
(""Have's and Have Not's"")
I am tired of having to pay for commissioners political games.You posted one story but there is story after story after story. Especially about Groce, Hunt, and Fontenot.
Last time we re-districted, Republicans came from Beaumont and from Houston to make sure voters knew that complaints by local activists were serious and alternatives were available. Fontenot and that idiot Kirkham should have to reimburse the county for the money they cost us by the way the divided things up.
Please "redistrict" the entire city of Cleveland into San Jacinto county. Our property insurance drops by 1/3, by leaving the hurricane belt
(State Farm shows that zip code 77327 exists in three counties, (Liberty, San Jac, and "monkey".) A $300,000 house rates at $1700 in Liberty county, but only $1000 and $1100 in the other two- same fire department, in all three cases)! go figure...
Our county property tax rate drops as well. Since the east county folks only return a fraction of our road taxes to the west county, why should we stay in Liberty County?
San Jacinto county awaits us with open arms.
Now, for the BIG hurdle: how to find intelligent life in Cleveland city hall, city council, the chamber, or the Barnett-First Baptist cartel???
I was in on that debate. Well,not a debate. Democrats never responded, so it couldn't have been a debate. They basically said what anyone else thought didn't matter. It was painfully obvious that if precinct #1 had to go across the river bottom to take care of any new re-districting area, it would be very expensive for taxpayers. In fact, the precinct #1 (the Liberty area) and precinct #4 (the Dayton area) had the only geographical barrier that was non negotiable - the river bottom. But voters never realized how they got screwed. And continue to get screwed by that dirty little deal.
It has always seemed to me that Groce and Fontenot worked some kind of deal with that squirrelly Hunt in Cleveland so they got what they wanted and he continued to get money even when the roads he was responsible for had been brought up to speed. They made him look good to his voters while he looks pretty bad to people who want to get the whole county in shape.
John Archer drew up and sold the plans for the redistricting just so he could keep the democrat stronghold together for his democratic commissioners. If portions of Pct 4 had moved to either Pct 2 or Pct 3, it would have made the precinct balance shift to Republican. I was in on those discussions and I know this for a fact.
Todd Fontenot has seriously financially damaged Liberty County. Classic Liberal. He has to go asap. He and his kin are Mike Little's step and fetch-its.
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