There are several items that may be of special interest to you concerning what is happening in the County.

First, redistricting has been successfully completed. Working in conjunction with a 15 person volunteer Citizens Committee and our law firm in Austin, the Commissioners Court voted to realign the Commissioner Precinct boundaries to equally divide the population of the County as per the 2010 Census. Now each Commissioner has about 19,700 citizens whom they represent. In the process of developing the new boundaries, several public workshops were held and then two Public Hearings were conducted to ensure concerned citizens had an opportunity to express their views on the alternatives developed. After the Commissioner precincts were established, the Citizens Committee again met to establish the new voting blocks to match the new boundary lines. In the past, the County was divided into 16 voting blocks, or voting precincts. Due to the realignment, that number has been expanded to 17 and some of the old precincts now have new numbers. All of these changes will become effective on January 1, 2012 and each voter will receive a new voter s card along with their polling, or vote, location. Please note, these changes DO NOT affect the election in November of this year. Each person will continue to vote in their current precinct and current polling place. The second item of interest is the continued work on the County budget for 2012. There were two main pressures on the Commissioners Court as we went
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into the process of developing the budget for next year; declining revenue and expanding road construction in the County. In 2006, Rockwall County property tax, of which 83% of the County revenue comes from, grew 15% from the previous year. This type growth had been occurring since the late 1990 s and had allowed the County to build a healthy cash reserve. But then the decline in growth started and last year the total property tax growth was a negative .20%. This year, going into 2012, the growth is less than 1% (.24%), a far cry from the growth we saw ten years ago. To compound the problem, growth for next year is projected to be no more than 1% with the forecast calling for this rate of growth for the next two to three years. The County s other source of income, Fees, Fines, and Grants, has also shown a decline over the past three years. Thus it was clear we had to address our spending rate to match this declining revenue stream. However the revenue problem did not end with this year. Because of our population going over 50,000, by State statute, we are required to add an additional two new Justices of the Peace and two new Constables to the County on the 2012 election. Using our financial planning and forecasting model developed by the Strategic Planning Citizens Group, this addition of personnel and their supporting staff and equipment would add about $800,000 to the County budget. Clearly, revenue is an issue. The second pressure on the Court is the expansion of our road system in the County. In 2008, our citizens overwhelming passed a $100 million road bond issue clearly showing their desire to improve and expand the roads within the County. Action is happening as a result of that mandate handed down by the voters and by the work of the coordinated cities and County working group addressing this expansion. You can see the work happening now on the John King overpass in Rockwall and the work underway on FM 740 North (Ridge Road) in Heath and Rockwall. This is about $35 million of State and County money at
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work. But this is just a start! We were recently notified the State would fund their portion of the construction of FM 740 South in Heath (where FM 740 North stops to down past the Heath City Hall), the overpass over I-30 at FM 3549, the overpass over I-30 at FM 551, and the overpass over I-30 at Irby Campbell, the site of the new Wal-Mart in Royce City. The County does the engineering and right of way acquisition for these projects, while the State does the actual construction. (For the FM 3549 overpass, the County will upfront the money for the entire construction which will then be paid back to the County over a ten year period.) This represents about another $80 million of construction committed for our County. This is what brings new jobs, industries, and people to our County. This is something we want to do! But all of this takes money. I believe the Court has developed a workable plan that meets our operating requirements, allows for the road construction, prepares us financially for the next year and the years to follow, and does not unduly burden our citizens. To pay for our Debt Service on the about $115 million of on-going and getting ready to start road construction, would require a tax rate increase of 2 cents for every $100 of appraised value. This would allow for the engineering and right-of-way work as well as funding for the construction of the FM 3549 overpass on the special funding arrangement. However, if we would withdraw $1.4 million from our reserve fund and place it in our already established Debt Service fund, then that additional money added to the current balance would allow us to pay for the debt service on all of the roads discussed. In other words, there would be no need for any tax increase to meet our current and announced road construction projects. This will save our taxpayers the 2 cents that would need to be added to the tax rate starting next year and continuing on for many years. On the operating side of the budget, the Court has made significant cuts in our spending. For the first time, we have eliminated job positions and
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found other ways of providing the same service. We have reduced the spending of almost every department in the County. We have reduced the purchase of new capital equipment. We have significantly reduced our contingency fund. We consolidated locations, stopped leases and moved out of buildings. And we have developed a budget that, if approved, is a balanced budget using our existing tax rate of 38.64 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value. However this budget is underfunded. It is underfunded because it allows the County no ability to fund next year s requirements; all of the future capacity expansion is eaten up in the balanced budget of this year. There is a solution. The effective tax rate for a county is the rate that would provide the county with approximately the same amount of revenue it had the year before on properties taxed in both years. This rate generally goes up when counties are not growing and it then comes down when tax evaluations are going up. This rate for our county is 39.60 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value. It is an increase of slightly less than 1 cent from our current rate and it builds in that capacity needed to plan and go forward into next year. But, this rate only does this IF we keep the same cuts and reductions in the proposed 2012 budget. If these change, then we are back into trouble like we were before the budget process started. So there are three things the Court must decide. Do we: 1. Put $1,400,000 from our reserve fund into the Debt Service fund to pay for the new roads and avoid a yearly 2 cent Debt Service tax raise, 2. Adopt our current tax rate of 38.64 cents, with an associated balanced budget, but with no capacity to fund 2013 and beyond without a significant tax raise next year, 3. Adopt the effective tax rate of 39.60 cents and have a budget with surplus dollars but with a tax increase of less than 1 cent (.96 cents)?
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There will be a Public Hearing on the 2012 budget at 9:00am in the Historic Courthouse on Tuesday, September 6. Any citizen may address the Court and give their views on the budget along with any recommendations. The budget will then be voted on the following week, Sept 13, at 9:00am, in the Historic Courthouse. Again any citizen may address the Court on the budget. Finally, the next County Judge Town hall meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept 15 at 7:00pm in the Heath City Hall. Any citizen of the County is invited to attend and ask any question on any subject. I look forward to seeing you there and also in the Courthouse on September 6 or 13th. Jerry Editorial Note from Rockwall County TEA Party Rockwall County voters overwhelmingly elected Judge Hogan on his pledge to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars and to exercise fiscal restraint. His actions as Judge have been consistent with his promises. But, he can only be effective when citizens do their part. It is the natural course of all governments to self-exist. Self preservation is a powerful force of human nature. Unfortunately, this force works against the interests of citizens. The Court recently voted to use the effective tax rate that Judge Hogan describes above instead of the fixed tax rate. It is common knowledge that property values are declining and will continue to do so. Therefore, adopting the effective tax rate is nothing less than a tax increase in disguise. In addition to the effective tax rate increase, we will be facing the cruelest tax of all inflation. All four precinct commissioners voted for the tax increase. Only your TEA Party-supported Judge opposed. In encourage you, one and all, to take advantage of the town hall and

public hearings described above in Judge Hogan s report. I also suggest you know your respective County Commissioner and communicate with them. Are you pleased the Court adopted the effective tax rate? Visit http://www.rockwallcountytexas.com//index.aspx?nid=101 to find contact information for your commissioner. Jerry Wimpee, Precinct 1 (northwest quadrant) Lorie Grinnan, Precinct 2 (southwest quadrant) Dennis Bailey, Precinct 3 (southeast quadrant) David Magness, Precinct 4 (northeast quadrant) Visit http://www.rockwallcountytexas.com/index.aspx?NID=100 to contact County Judge Jerry Hogan Thanks, John White Rockwall County TEA Party