Travis County Commssioners Court
August 7, 2003
FY ‘04 Budget Hearings
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Commissioner Gomez’s Comments
The only thing that I have to add is I’m glad to get all of these ideas to think about. I think it's good to have someone new come in and look at what we do and gives us an opportunity to get creative and really think about what we do and why we do it and do we need to keep doing what we've done in the past the same way. So I mean there's value in all of the discussion. I guess you all know I don't like bureaucracy, and I think that there's an opportunity for us to examine ourselves and see what we can do better with what we have. And I really -- I’m listening to the taxpayers as well as they say, you know, that they feel that they are having to really scramble to get that money together, and I told them that I identify with them. Because I do. Coity makes big bucks.his and so weeed to take that into consideration. I think th t we can be more efficient and more effective with the funds that we do have and the resources that we've -- that this court has allocated to the different departments in the last at least eight years that i've been here. And before that. Many years before. Anso I think that we owe the taxpayers efficiency and effectiveness in handling their resources. I think our personnel as well. Taxpayers have taken care of personnel, county personnel. And I think that we need to think about what we do and how we do it and how we can do it better. And so that there is a really good partnership between our county workforce and our taxpayers. And I think once I feel really comfortable about that, then, you know, I can explain to the taxpayers why our tax rate is where it is. And why we do what we do. And what we expect out of the allocation of resources. And so -- and then I want to concentrate on the mandates. County government is unlike other local governments, and we have certain mandates that need to be met. And I know that we all know that the public feels that public safety is at the top. And since 1994 when I got here or was running for this office, I was concerned about the number of patrol officers out in southeast Travis County. And I don't know if that force has been reduced. I don't know if we still have three patrol officers out there or not. And granted there is annexation going on, but still I think we need to know that all segments of Travis County are covered and patrolled and protected. And so if that isn't happening, I need to know because we need to work on some things to get that done. The other -- let's see, there was a follow-up on here regarding the sheriff's office as well. Let me just think about it here a little bit. Yeah, well, that was it, it was the patrol east of i-35. And so I’m really -- I don't -- I’m concerned if the patrol officers have been reduced in terms of what we need, you know, for public safety for constituents, and that is at the top. The e.m.s., Of course, you know, we worked on that and to try to extend public safety to everyone all over the county. Still I think that Travis County, even as the population increases, I think we still need to concentrate on the mandates that we have. Public safety being one of those. Of course, the mobility. And I think that is addressed fairly well with our bond elections. And I think when we get to the bond elections, we also need to concentrate on those things that we can deal with, keeping the taxpayers in mind. The size of the bond elections determines the -- also determines the tax rate. And so that is something that I want to concentrate on. The others are people who do not do as well as people who work for government. And I don't think that we ought to balance our budget on the backs of people who need our help from time to time. And I know that we've considered, for instance, the bond elections, to -- because it's an investment in this community. And it puts people to work. And weave an interest in not having an expanded unemployment rate because then they would have to come to see our health and human services department. But I think we need to kind of couple those kind of things. If we're going to see something that increases the unemployment rate, then I think we need to do a little better job of saying it needs to be coupled with the investment that we need in h.h.s., For instance. I think we probably can do just a little better job overall in whenever we think of something that is going to impact something that we're uncomfortable with like the tax rate. Then we need to think about what else we need to do in order to have a good balance. And I think sometimes we kind of let go of that and then we're surprised because we need to increase a budget over here to handle the problem, you know, the squeezing of the balloon. You know, you reduce something over here, but there's an increase on the other side that we need to handle later. So in order to avoid those kinds of surprises, I think we need to think really well, think these issues through so that we don't have surprises later. Or come up short with the money that we need. But I think most of the ideas I heard today are things that we need to think about in terms of efficiency andfftiveness and not only because of the hard times, but I think they will help us when times -- when the economy bounces back and it won't be -- we'll be ready for that as well. So those are my concerns. And the other, I guess, the investments that we make in i.t. I think we need to really follow up not only those but other projects that we invest in, make sure that they get completed on time and in budget and under budget if possible so that we can become more efficient and effective. And know that with certainty that we can tell taxpayers that we are not wasting their money. That whatever we collect is being used in the proper manner and effectively and efficiently and that there is no waste. So I think that's where I want to head.
Last Modified: Friday, August 8, 2003 8:52 AM