09/10/2026
Maverick County Faces $4.8 Million Question With No Easy Answer
By Jose G. Landa
Maverick County officials are facing a difficult math problem, and unfortunately, there is no eraser large enough to make it disappear.
The county expects to receive approximately $23.6 million during the coming fiscal year, but proposed expenses total about $28.5 million. That leaves a shortfall approaching $4.8 million.
The Commissioners Court held back-to-back meetings this week while attempting to reduce the proposed budget to approximately $24 million.
The math is simple.
Deciding what to cut is not.
The budget currently under review is only a proposal and can still be changed before its final adoption. However, several of the options being discussed have caused concern among elected officials, department heads and county employees.
Nearly $600,000 could be removed from public safety operations. The Sheriff’s Office could lose most of its overtime and holiday-pay funding, despite already operating with limited personnel.
County leaders have also discussed reducing some employees’ weekly schedules by eight hours and possibly as many as 16 hours.
In plain English, employees could work fewer days and receive considerably smaller paychecks. Unfortunately, mortgages, groceries and electricity bills do not offer reduced schedules. Hopefully this is not done ....
Questions have also been raised about professional service agreements and other county contracts.
Commissioners must decide whether some contracts should be reduced or eliminated before cutting employee hours and essential public services.
A property-tax increase of approximately one cent to one and a half cents has also been mentioned. However, it would reportedly generate only a few hundred thousand dollars, meaning taxpayers could pay more while the county would still be millions of dollars short.
The loss of approximately $2 million previously generated through a jail contract has made the situation even more difficult.
After two meetings, the county still did not have a complete solution. Appointed County Judge Pablo Garcia, County Auditor Gloria Barrientos and the commissioners now have little time to balance the numbers.
In simple terms, the county must fit roughly $28.5 million in expenses into a $24 million wallet. Something must come out.
The serious question is whether it will be contracts, county services, public safety funding, employee pay or a combination of everything. We might not even see toilet paper at County offices the way this is going...
