The Burnet County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a $5 million short-term bond to fund a list of long-term projects, including a new voting system and rights-of-way for the Wirtz Dam Bridge.
The money also will be used to fix courthouse basement leaks and convert a cafeteria at the Burnet County Jail into attorney/client visitation rooms. The bond will be paid off in four years and will lower the debt-service tax rate.
“From time to time, there are large-scale items that need to be accomplished but are too large to put in the county budget,” Burnet County Judge James Oakley said during the court’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 13. “We’ve had success with using short-term money for long-term projects.”
Four financial institutions bid on the $5 million bond. Regions Bank won with the lowest rate of 3.83 percent. Oakley pointed out that the county obtained a low rate because of its AA credit rating and debt-service ratio.
“Our debt-service ratio is in the lowest-bottom quartile of the state,” he said, adding that the $5 million bond will go into effect as a $7 million bond is paid off.
“Folks are concerned about debt, I get it,” he said. “We are in a very strong financial position. This is a tool necessary for dealing with growth issues. It is just what we have to do.”
The bond money can only be spent on the projects listed, which include:
Rights-of-way and utility relocation for the Wirtz Dam Bridge—$1 million
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The Burnet County Commissioners Court wants more time to analyze the results of a forensic audit of the Sheriff’s Office that looked into alleged timesheet tampering over the last four years. County Judge James Oakley presented the audit results on Tuesday, Aug. 13, after 11 months of waiting.
The court ordered the audit in September 2023 after anonymous “whistleblowers” claimed the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office was paying certain employees overtime hours that were never worked. Third-party accounting firm Baker Tilly received $20,000 to conduct the audit.
The 15-page report highlighted 957 instances of timesheet labeling using the “FTO” and “CTO” distinctions, referring to “field training officer” and “communications training officer,” respectively. The jobs involve training incoming officers and often accrue overtime.
Oakley and county Human Resources Director Shirley Bullard asserted that these instances of FTO and CTO labeling could represent overtime pay for hours that were never worked.
Sheriff Calvin Boyd has consistently stuck by his statement that all of the hours in question were worked and the labeling was used in an effort to track how much the Sheriff’s Office was spending on overtime for training officers. Boyd’s position is backed up by District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee, who conducted his own investigation and determined no criminal wrongdoing by the Sheriff’s Office.
After Oakley’s presentation, commissioners unanimously tabled the matter for discussion at a future date. Commissioners Damon Beierle and Joe Don Dockery each said they had never seen the report and wanted more time to process the information.
“I think this needs to go to another court,” Beierle said. “There’s no way we can take action on this. I’m not taking any action on this today.”
Discussion and/or action on the audit might take place at the next scheduled Commissioners Court meeting at 9 a.m. Aug. 27 at the Burnet County Courthouse, 220 S. Pierce St. in Burnet. Depending on the court’s decision, the matter could lead to further investigation, reporting to a state agency, or being dropped altogether.
Oakley told DailyTrib.com after the meeting that he understands the court’s decision to table the audit discussion, but he sees merit to the accusations.
“Based on the findings of what the Human Resources department discovered, and reinforced by the more comprehensive look by Baker Tilly, I do believe there are some discrepancies and basis to the allegations,” he said.
Oakley was referring to the research of former Human Resources Director Sara Ann Luther, who resigned amid nepotism allegations in October 2023, and current Human Resources Director Bullard, who spoke during Tuesday’s meeting.
“I came in at the back end of everything (with the audit) and was in on the phone conversations with Baker Tilly and looked at some of the (draft audits) and formed my own opinion about what was going on,” Bullard told the court. “Everything that I saw showed that the Sheriff’s Office was giving premium pay to some employees. They were being paid an hour of time and a half on numerous occasions for numerous employees.” Boyd confronted Oakley during the Tuesday meeting, saying it was “inappropriate” to spring the audit results on everyone.
“I appreciate the way you did this, keeping it all to yourself and then putting it all in front of this audience,” he told Oakley. “We’ve wasted $20,000 and all these man-hours on an investigation that says we’re not guilty of anything criminal.”
Boyd told DailyTrib.com that his office did label certain overtime hours as FTO or CTO hours, but it was done to track overtime for officer training hours. He claimed all hours were worked, regardless of labeling.
“We wanted to track (FTO and CTO overtime) to see what it was costing us,” he said. “(The FTOs and CTOs) worked the hours.”
District Attorney McAfee confirmed to DailyTrib.com that his office investigated the accusations against the Sheriff’s Office.
“I found that there was no illegal conduct by the Sheriff’s Office,” he said.
McAfee did say he found one former employee who had submitted vouchers for time they had not worked, which he said appeared to be an isolated incident.
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The Burnet County Commissioners Court scaled down proposed maximum pay increases for elected officials in the 2025 budget after receiving significant pushback from the public and even some county officials.
People packed the Burnet County Courthouse courtroom during the commissioners’ regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 13. Many lined up at a podium and some spoke from their seats to express their concerns about the raises, an issue the court has struggled with for weeks.
The Commissioners Court is legally obligated to advertise any proposed pay increases for elected officials in a newspaper of record at least 10 days before a public hearing and a final vote on the budget. This year’s budget hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 27 at the courthouse, 220 S. Pierce St. in Burnet. The deadline to post the ad is Friday, Aug. 16.
The published numbers are the highest possible pay increases elected officials can receive in a fiscal year budget. The amounts can be lowered in the final budget but not raised.
Because the Commissioners Court could not decide on pay increases at its last meeting, and the deadline for advertising was looming, they set the maximum amount per elected official at $20,000 to give them time to come up with the real numbers. The ad never ran, but a news story and word of mouth filled the courtroom meeting with people.
After almost 30 minutes of public comment and around 45 minutes of discussion from the floor, commissioners approved raises of around 6 percent for 13 out of the 18 elected officials. That amount aligns with what has been proposed for county employees in the 2025 budget.
The five exceptions to the 6 percent increase are the Burnet County sheriff and the county’s four constables.
The sheriff’s proposed raise was set at 16.41 percent, with the county funding about 6 percent of that amount. The remaining 10 percent would come from a grant through Texas Senate Bill 22, which provides state funds for rural sheriffs. This would increase the sheriff’s salary from $105,159 to $122,416.
The proposed increase for the four constables is 17.95 percent each.
The Burnet County Commissioners Court prepares for a long meeting with dozens of county residents, employees, and officials in attendance. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
According to Burnet County Judge James Oakley, that increase is based on a request from the constables to receive a salary closer to that of the county’s justices of the peace, which is currently $89,852 each. A 17.95 percent increase would bring a constable’s salary from $72,642 to $85,688.
The proposed increases approved Tuesday by the Commissioners Court are similar to an original set of maximum increases pitched by Judge Oakley during the court’s July 23 meeting. Oakley is the county’s chief budget officer and is tasked with developing the annual salary maximums and a draft budget for court approval.
In Oakley’s original proposal, most elected officials were set to receive about a 6 percent raise, but the four county commissioners were looking at 9.67 percent maximums, the constables 17.95 percent maximums, and the JPs 7.7 percent maximums.
Those proposed increases were rescinded during a special meeting of the court on Aug. 7 to accommodate additional funds from SB22 for the sheriff and address the concerns of several elected officials, who felt too much disparity existed between the proposed maximums for different offices.
Oakley produced another set of numbers on Aug. 7, which beefed up the county judge and county attorney’s salaries by 16.29 percent and boosted the pay of the four justices of the peace.
Some elected officials stiffly opposed the Aug. 7 numbers, which led to the decision to advertise the maximum increases while continuing discussions on what the raises should actually be.
Dozens of people turned out for the Tuesday meeting to express outrage at the prospect of elected officials receiving substantial raises while many residents are tightening their belts.
“My concern is for the property owners of our community that bear the brunt of financing your budget,” Candy Ratliff said during the public comment period. “These property owners have tightened their budgets to afford the increases in gas and food prices. ”
Burnet County resident Candy Ratliff was one of many residents who took to the podium on Aug. 13 during the regular meeting of the Commissioners Court to protest proposed maximum salary increases. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Ratliff added that she and others she spoke to doubted that commissioners would listen to their opinions and did not care about “the plight of the taxpayers.”
“I’m here to let you know that we are not in agreement with these increases, and you are harming the very people who pay for you to be here today,” she said.
Another resident, Mark McDonald, who regularly criticizes the court during public meetings, also spoke up.
“It would be nice if the county looked for ways to conserve because the rest of us are,” he said.
Marble Falls resident Jacob Williams agreed.
“I think that we’re all sucking in wherever we can, we’re all making sacrifices wherever we can, and for you guys to use your power in this way, to give yourself raises, we want to know what we’re getting out of it,” he said. “What’s the justification? What’s the performance? The results? What more are you doing to deserve it?”
Following the public comment and court discussion, Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle moved to reduce all elected official pay increase maximums to 6 percent, with the exception of the sheriff and the four constables, who would maintain their respective 16.41 percent and 17.95 percent increases.
The court voted unanimously in favor of those maximums. The final vote on the pay increases will occur at the Commissioners Court’s Aug. 23 meeting, 10 days after the numbers reported in this story have been published in a newspaper of record.
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The city of Marble Falls and unincorporated Llano County are under burn bans. The Burnet County Commissioners Court did not have a ban on its Aug. 13 meeting agenda, but officials ask that residents in unincorporated areas give advance notice if they’re planning an outdoor burn.
“The KDBI index is reaching our threshold that we use to determine a burn ban,” said Marble Falls Fire Rescue Marshal Coy Guenter. “We decided to enact the ban for the safety of our community and our first responders.”
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index for Burnet County was around 482 on Tuesday, when the Marble Falls ban was issued. The city fire department enacts bans at around the 500 mark.
“It was 473 yesterday (Monday), so by the end of the week, we’ll be there,” Guenter said.
The KBDI rates soil moisture within a 0-800 range, with 800 being the driest.
The Marble Falls ban covers all areas within the city limits. No permits will be issued for burning until the ban is lifted. For more information on the Marble Falls ban, call 830-693-4060.
Llano County’s KBDI was around 365 on Tuesday. That and predictions of 100-degree-plus temperatures for the next 10 days or more led county commissioners to issue a burn ban for unincorporated areas on Monday.
Even without a ban, Burnet County asks that anyone in unincorporated areas planning an outdoor burn call the Sheriff’s Office at 512-756-8080 ext. 0 to report the location, day, and time in advance.
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The Marble Falls Economic Development Corp. Board of Directors awarded $20,000 to the Marble Falls Inclusive Play Group to help build Wyatt’s Clubhouse, a playground for children of all abilities, at Westside Park, 1610 Second St. The EDC might commit another $30,000 to the project in the 2025 fiscal year.
The board made its decision on Aug. 7 after hearing a request for $50,000 from play group board member Leigh Wessels. The group has a target of $250,000, which will be matched by an anonymous donor, according to Wessels.
“With the EDC grant, we will be just within reach of our $250,000 goal,” Wessels told the board. “Whatever we would receive here today would be a tremendous step for us.”
The funds will come from the EDC’s Community Leverage Grant program, which makes up to $100,000 available for community-based projects. Directors unanimously decided to award $20,000 from the 2024 fiscal year grant fund and asked that the play group return in the next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, to make another presentation for the remaining $30,000.
“You don’t get too many projects that get this much community support,” EDC Director Ryan Nash said. “I think it’s a great use of funds personally, but I would be comfortable committing to the $50,000 now.”
The Marble Falls Inclusive Playgroup formed in 2022 to create an outdoor play space for children of all ages and ability levels in the Highland Lakes.
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The Marble Falls City Council on Aug. 6 approved a $2.14 million bid for significant improvements to the city’s Via Viejo high-service water pump station, a move necessary for current and future development, according to city officials. The project is nearly two years in the making and should be completed by December 2025.
The winning bid is from TTE LLC. Upgrades include 388 feet of water lines, an 895-square-foot booster pump house, and extensive electrical and fitting work necessary to assimilate the new equipment.
“The pump station is essential for water utility service to most of the City of Marble Falls’ customers north of (Lake Marble Falls) and is central to the planning to meet future water demands in the northern part of the city,” reads a 2022 report from the city when the project was first proposed.
TTE’s bid was the lowest of four received for the project—the highest being $3.23 million from Associated Construction Partners Ltd.—and was selected at the recommendation of project engineers Trihydro Inc., which the city contracted to design the Via Viejo pump upgrades in November 2022.
“We’re happy to get this project underway,” Mayor Dave Rhodes said prior to the council’s vote.
The project should be completed within 500 days, according to Marble Falls City Engineer Jeff Prato.
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Agendas are posted 72 hours before a meeting so are not always ready by the time this list is published. Check links for more information.
The city of Bertram does not post its City Council meeting agendas, notices, or minutes online. Agendas can be seen on the city’s bulletin board in front of City Hall 72 hours prior to the meeting. Minutes can be requested from city staff during normal business hours.
The Bertram City Council meets at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month.
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Gov. Greg Abbott appointed three Highland Lakes residents to the Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome Advisory Council, his office announced on Aug. 5.
Kara Chasteen of Bertram, Sarah Garrett of Spicewood, and Dr. Amy Offutt of Marble Falls will serve on the 12-member council for 2024-25, advising the related commission and Texas Legislature on research, diagnosis, treatment, and education about the childhood syndrome. Their terms will expire on Aug. 31, 2025.
Kara Chasteen of Bertram is a rancher and IT marketing consultant. She is a volunteer for several community charities and a member of Hill Country Fellowship Church. She is the former president of the parents’ board for Burnet County 4H and a former member of the Burnet County Livestock Show Board of Directors. She has served as a gubernatorial appointee on the Advisory Council since 2019. Chasteen received a Bachelor of Science in agricultural economics from Tarleton State University and a Master of Education in instructional technology from West Texas A&M University.
Sarah Garrett of Spicewood is the founder and executive director of the Phoenix Center, a registered play therapist, a licensed psychotherapist, and a registered play therapist supervisor for the American Association of Play Therapy. She has served as a gubernatorial appointee on the Advisory Council since 2020. Garrett received a Bachelor of Arts in arts from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Clinical Social Work from the University of Houston.
Dr. Amy Offutt of Marble Falls is the medical director and co-owner of Heart and Soul Integrative Health and Yoga. She is president of the ILADS and a TMA member. Additionally, she volunteers as a medical consultant for Faith Academy of Marble Falls and multiple summer camps in Central Texas. She has served as a gubernatorial appointee on the Advisory Council since 2019. Offutt received a Bachelor of Science in biology from Abilene Christian University, a Master of Arts in integrative medicine from George Washington University, and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She completed a residency in Family Medicine at Christus Santa Rosa.
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The Marble Falls City Council is deliberating on whether or not to grant an appeal from the Thunder Rock subdivision developer for a $3.39 million break on city fees for hooking up 561 residential lots to municipal utilities.
Marble Falls charges a one-time “impact fee” to connect a residence to municipal utilities to make up for the impact the home will have on the city’s water and wastewater systems. The fee for a three-quarter-inch meter on a standard single-family home was $6,054 until May 1 of this year, when it jumped to $12,108. Under the current rate, the developer would have to pay $6.78 million for the 561 lots.
According to Marble Falls officials, developer Centurion American missed the April 30 deadline to have final plat approval for three build phases that would include the 561 lots, making it ineligible for the old impact fee rate. Centurion American’s appeal is a request to the city to allow Thunder Rock to pay the old impact fee rate, which would save the developer about $3.39 million.
Thunder Rock is being developed in the northwest corner of the intersection of U.S. 281 and Texas 71 south of Marble Falls.
The council did not make a final decision on the appeal during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6, instead choosing to take more time to analyze the proposal before voting at a later date.
“I get it, it’s revenue that the city is forgoing, but we’re so over budget on that project,” said Centurion American Vice President of Development Rob Romo during the Tuesday meeting. “It’s not like we’re trying to sneak anything in here. We’re in a bind. The city has been a great partner, but we just need some help.”
Romo explained that they had budgeted for the old impact fees and struggled to secure additional funds from their lender, slowing momentum on the project.
Marble Falls Director of Development Services Kim Foutz presented Centurion American’s appeal to the council on Tuesday and stated the city did not contribute to the developer missing the April 30 deadline.
“(The city) processed and got everything done before the deadline,” Foutz said.
The council entered an executive session to consult with City Attorney Josh Brockman-Weber on potential paths forward.
After the council emerged, a unanimous vote was taken to conduct further research on the matter before making a decision.
“Unless something comes out that we are not aware of, (the developers) really have no legal precedent for anything. It is a request,” Mayor Dave Rhodes told DailyTrib.com following the decision. “In all honesty, we’re not in favor of (granting the appeal). I don’t think anyone is in favor of it, but any business by its very nature is some kind of a negotiation. Good business is good relationships. So, even if we don’t make a change, we still give them their day more than just here.”
The Thunder Rock subdivision will have an estimated 1,900 homes, 500 multifamily units, 75,000 square-feet of retail and commercial space, and a sports complex when completed.
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