Maverick County approves hiring freeze due to financial problems
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
Maverick County Commissioners Court unanimously approved to implement a hiring freeze for Maverick County government for the remainder of the 2015 fiscal year at their special meeting held on Monday, June 29, 2015 under agenda item no. 15.
During discussion, County Judge David R. Saucedo gave a detailed explanation of the hiring freeze proposal for Maverick County during the remainder of the 2015 Fiscal Year Budget.
“I need to explain to you what the freeze is being proposed for,” said Judge Saucedo.
Judge Saucedo explained that the hiring freeze is due to monetary figures determined in previous days by him and County officials and that it needed to be implemented immediately.
“I can tell the public and the Commissioners Court that the bond holders of the [Maverick County Public Facility Corporation] (“PFC”) have been asking for a bill for some time now,” said Judge Saucedo.
Judge Saucedo stated that the Financial Advisor and the previous County Auditor could not get a figure in place to present to the PFC bond holders as to what is owed to Maverick County.
“This is what you owe Maverick County and this is what we have done in the past 18 months to make sure that the people in Maverick County (PFC) don’t lose their jobs. Maverick County has made that commitment and as a result of that commitment we find ourselves in a shortfall and the possibility of going out and having to borrow money to keep cash flow going,” said Judge Saucedo.
“It doesn’t mean that the money is not coming back to Maverick County that is owed to Maverick County. But in the meantime we need to have something in place,” added Judge Saucedo.
At a previous meeting, Judge Saucedo advised Commissioners Court that Maverick County was going to have to borrow up to $2 Million in order to pay the employees of the Maverick County Detention Center or PFC due to the County’s financial situation.
Judge Saucedo explained that when an entity goes out to borrow money, banks require for the entity to take certain measures to show some type of fiscal responsibility by the potential borrower (Maverick County).
“This is not the first time that we do this. It’s been done before during my administration, at the onset of the administration that I started. At this juncture we’re not asking to fire anybody, to put anybody on furlough, or come back and do cuts. What we‘re saying in the meantime is let’s not hire anybody until we get this thing resolved,” said Judge Saucedo.
Saucedo acknowledged the efforts of all county departments on taking cuts and sacrificing on certain things to see the county through rough financial waters.
“I do believe that this is a transitional phase that we find ourselves in and I just wanted to let you all know why this is in play because it is important for you all to know the reason why this item is in place,” said Judge Saucedo to Commissioners Court and the public.
Judge Saucedo further explained that the hiring freeze is a measure to ensure that Maverick County can operate by tightening the county’s belt on expenses for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2015.
Commissioners Court discussed how the freeze would affect certain positions which had opened up in the County due to resignations and unforeseen situations.
Judge Saucedo noted that employee positions with the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department would be exempt from the hiring freeze due to the importance of public safety and state law requirements governing detention facilities and public safety. “Other than that, at this juncture, the way we did it a few years back was not to hire anybody else for the remainder of the fiscal year,” said Judge Saucedo.
Commissioner of Precinct 4 Roberto Ruiz expressed his concerns on the financial shortfall of Maverick County’s budget and on the hiring freeze impact on the County finances because County residents have needs to be taken care of by the County. Ruiz expressed his wariness as to how it could affect the County’s ability to meet the needs of its citizens.
“We have talked about asking for more personnel to better service our constituents. We do not have enough personnel,” replied Judge Saucedo.
Commissioner Ruiz stated that Maverick County needed more personnel under the County Road and Bridge Department due to the amount of work needed throughout the four county precincts to be done and to satisfy County residents.
Ruiz concurred that the Sherriff’s Department was the last group to be considered of being placed under the hiring freeze due to the importance of the public safety and well-being of the citizens.
Ruiz was critical of the fact that the County government had gotten itself to a financial crisis or shortage and requested that the County prioritize its public safety and constituent needs if the county was going to vote on implementing a hiring freeze.
Commissioners Court also discussed how measures such as a hiring freeze are needed to show certain fiscal responsibility to lenders so that Maverick County can obtain its loan from a bank institution to cover its monetary shortfall for the remainder of fiscal year 2015.
Commissioners Court discussed the need for the County to balance its responsibilities in order to meet the needs of its constituents or citizens.
“We are at a point, where we’re going to have to do what we have to do in order to continue on,” said Judge Saucedo to Commissioners Court.
“We have to make it work. We have done it before and I know that we can get through this thing again,” said Judge Saucedo.
Maverick County took over the management and operation of the 625 bed Maverick County Detention Center on November 1, 2013 under the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department after its previous operator, The Geo Group, terminated its agreement on October 31, 2013. Since then, Maverick County taxpayers have been subsidizing the operation of the Maverick County Detention Center through use of its general revenue funds to keep the detention center afloat and save approximately 120 jobs at the prison. Meanwhile, Maverick County taxpayers’ needs such as street paving and other public services have suffered as County financial resources for these services are used to operate the detention center, as Commissioner Ruiz noted at the meeting. Maverick County hopes to pay for the $2 Million loan from the revenues of the U.S. Marshal’s Service for detaining pre-trial prisoners awaiting final disposition of their criminal cases in federal court in Del Rio, Texas and/or tax revenues from the next fiscal year 2016.
