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Rockwall County Commissioners Finalize Budget for New Courthouse

On Wednesday afternoon, the County Commissioners Court met in a special session to approve a site plan and final budget for the controversial new courthouse to be built next to the library. Bond issues to build the facility had been twice rejected by county voters, whereupon the Court issued a $30 million tax note to go ahead with the project, reassuring the public that the figure was a "maximum", and could end up being less. As cost figures were presented, added, subtracted and mulled over, the final figure emerged - over 24 percent beyond the promised maximum. The big surprise was that nobody seemed surprised.

With one dissenting vote, the Commissioners approved a budget of $37.2 million to build the edifice, and spent the bulk of what turned out to be a four and a half-hour meeting trying to figure out where the additional funds would come from. As a dizzying array of figures were flashed on screen and bandied about among the Commissioners and County Treasurer Bill Sinclair, the Court ultimately decided to dip into the county's reserve fund.

The fund, with a balance of between $17.96 million and nearly $20 million, depending on whether you're looking at audited or unaudited figures, or at what point during which fiscal year, is generally regarded as surplus money to be used in emergency or deficit situations. The balance in this fund is a big factor in determining a county's credit rating. In a line of questioning led by Commissioner Dennis Bailey, the court tried to determine along with Treasurer Sinclair just how far down they could draw these funds without jeopardizing Rockwall County's currently favorable rating.

During these discussions, Commissioner Grinnan expressed her opposition to using reserve funds in this depressed economy to pay for "space we won't need for 10 to 15 Years." Bottom line, she said, "We can't afford this building. Period."

In a last-ditch damage control scramble, the Commissioners asked the contractor, Manhattan Construction, to calculate how much would be saved by reducing the height of the building from four to three floors. They could only come up with a $2.3 million savings by doing so. The Commissioners decided that it was not worth such a small reduction in cost to give up an entire floor of future growth space.

In the end, it was agreed that taking $6.2 million from the reserve fund would leave the county with a six month reserve against annual expenditures, keeping the credit rating intact. The additional $1 million shortfall would come from looking at cutting other county programs.

Commissioner Magness made the motion to approve. Commissioner Wimpee seconded, with a comment that this was the upper limit, strongly urging the contractor to bring the number down at every opportunity. Motion passed, with Commissioner Grinnan opposed.

After the meeting, Planet Rockwall sent emails asking for formal comments from the Commissioners. The following is what we have received as of this writing:

Commissioner Grinnan: “I oppose the Court’s decision to increase the cost of the new courthouse from $30M to $37.2M. Given the fact that our economy is down and we should be conserving every dollar, we cannot afford to build a facility with excess space that we may not need for our court system for 10, 15, or even 20 years. Ray Helm, Rockwall County Chief Appraiser, relayed to me that we should expect a flat or lowered revenue for at least the next 2 years. This comes at a time when we will have an increase in expenses when we have to provide a new district court and the associated personnel and auxiliary costs. Also, we have a $3M deficit budget this year. The Commissioners Court chose to tap into our reserve fund, or savings account, and go beyond the $30 M in debt that has already been issued to build the new court building.”

Seats currently occupied by Commissioners David Magness and Lorie Grinnan, and County Judge Chris Florance are up for grabs in the upcoming March primary. All incumbents have declared their intent to seek re-election. There are, so far, three announced candidates running against Judge Florance. One of them, when asked why he was running replied, "I can give you 7.2 million reasons."

Bob Lewis
Contributing Rockwall Writer

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