Washita County’s elected officers presented their Fiscal Year 2019-2020 budget requests to the county excise board last week. In total, the various department heads have requested more than $2.7 million in spending for the fiscal year, representing an increase of almost $100,000 from Fiscal Year 2018-2019.
The Washita County Sheriff’s Department had the single largest budget request, totaling $1,190,000. The request was an increase of $471,617 from the previous year’s request. That number, however, doesn’t represent that much of an increase in the sheriff’s department budget. During the 2018-2019 fiscal year the sheriff’s department received transfers from the general government account totaling $444,239 to cover payroll from Jan. 1, 2019, until June 30, 2019. In the new budget, the amount needed to cover the sheriff’s department payroll from July 1, 2019, until Dec. 31, 2019, was included. After Jan. 1, 2020, the payroll should be covered by the newly revised sales tax, which was passed by Washita County voters earlier this year.
The County Assessor’s Office has also requested a significant budget increase. Krystle Uecke, the Washita County Assessor, has asked for an increase of $46,861 for the new fiscal year, moving her budget from last year’s $86,660 to $135,521. The increase, she told the excise board members during the June 17, 2019, meeting, is to cover the payroll from one of her employees who was previously paid from the visual inspection budget. Because the employee was not dedicated full-time to visual inspection, she said there was not sufficient legal justification to account the payroll to that budget. She also proposed a decrease of $15,683 to the visual inspection budget, reducing it to $132,779 from the previous year’s $148,462.
The Washita County Treasurer, Sherry Nightengale, asked the excise board for an additional $32,443.65 for the new fiscal year, going up to $182,443.65 from last year’s $150,000 budget. The treasurer’s budget has steadily decreased during the past five fiscal years, from $178,586 during the 2014-2015 fiscal year to a low point of $144,041 in 2016-2017, then back up to $150,000 last year.
Lynda Vermillion, the Clerk of the District Court, asked the excise board for a budget increase of almost $24,000 in the coming fiscal year. The increase, she said, was to cover the expense of an additional part time clerk in her office. The court clerk’s office is responsible for managing the county’s ever-growing court docket and for processing court payments, records requests, and other administrative and support services for the district court. The office’s 2018-2019 budget was $179,817. Vermillion asked for $203,559.42 for the coming year.
Washita County Clerk Kristen Dowell also asked for a moderate budget increase. She requested $243,670 for the new year, as compared to $225,000 for the previous fiscal year. Dowell explained to the excise board that her office had been purchasing various supplies from a cash account derived from the collection of fees, but those funds were dwindling and her office needed extra funding to accommodate the decrease in fee-based revenues.
The last of the department budget requests was for the general government fund. In the previous fiscal year, the general government fund budget was $990,267.54. For the new year, the proposed budget is $482,735. Much of that cut is due to the reallocation of the sheriff’s department payroll to the sheriff’s budget instead of transferring the payroll funds on a monthly basis, as has been done in the last half of the current fiscal year. The general government budget, however, is very susceptible to change as the budget nears finalization, as it will be altered to reflect the actual cash available to the county after the cash balance from the current fiscal year, the estimated revenues and ad valorem tax revenues are calculated. That fund will be adjusted to ensure the county’s budget meets the state requirements for a balanced budget.
The excise board will meet again to discuss the budget requests at 8:15 a.m. Monday, July 1, 2019, on the second floor of the Washita County Courthouse. At that time, they may decide to meet with the Board of Commissioners to hammer out the final numbers.
bob henline can be reached at