2026-02-24 Denton County Commissioners Court

Transcription of this Commissioners Court has errors due to the machine having difficulty transcribing Commissioner Mitchell’s accent. This is no fault of the Commissioners.

MITCHELL

As soon as I get my. The Denton County Commissioners Court is now called to order. As you can see, that our county judge is not here.

He's away on county business at NACO. But the rest of us are here and in place. So at this time, we're going to have our invocation by our own public health director, Matt Richardson, and followed by the pledges, Judge Robert Ramirez.

Please stand.

RICHARDSON

Good morning, commissioners. Before I offer a prayer for those of us in the room, I would just ask that we take a moment and pray to God and bring to him what's on our minds personally. So let's bow for just a moment.

Our Father, we know that you're in heaven and we bring this morning so many things to you. God, we lift up those on our minds and on our hearts. We bring our concerns and we bring our request to you because you said that we could.

Father, we know that yours is the kingdom that we keep our eyes on, that we look toward. Father, we know that you forgive us and we thank you for that. We also know that you have called us to forgive.

And Father, that's harder, but we thank you for that example as well. Father, we know that we are to ask you for the things that nourish us and that bring us through the day. Father, we ask you to give us today's daily bread.

Not be greedy about tomorrow, but give us today what we need. And Father, we ask that for ourselves and we ask that for others. And Father, with forgiveness, we just ask that we have the strength to ask you for it and then to give it to others.

And Father, we ask that in these coming weeks and months, as we go through elections and as we establish your will, as you ask us to establish your will on earth as it is in heaven, we ask for the strength and the wisdom to do that. And Father, just like your son in the road to Damascus, when we ask that you walk with us, Father, we ask for the wisdom and the clarity to recognize you on the road. We ask that we can see you accompanying us through our stages of life and whatever and wherever we find ourselves.

God, I thank you this morning for the example of your son, his faithfulness, that sacrifice. And Father, may we be worthy of your son's sacrifice and may we follow him on the roads that he has traveled, including forgiveness, including loving our neighbors, Father. We ask for that strength.

We ask for that wisdom this morning and we thank you for Jesus, amen.

RAMIREZ

Good morning, commissioners. If everyone would go on ahead and place your hand over the heart and let's begin with the pledge to the American flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

And now the Texas flag. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one and invisible.

MITCHELL

Thank you, Dr. Richardson. Thank you, Judge. Appreciate everyone being here this morning.

Our first item on the agenda is the public input for items not listed on the agenda. And we have one public comment. Mr. London Golding, would you please come up, please?

State your name and address for the record.

GOLDING

Good morning, commissioners. I'm London Golding. You would like my address?

MITCHELL

Yes, sir.

GOLDING

[home address redacted].

MITCHELL

Okay, go ahead and tell us what your item.

GOLDING

Good morning, commissioners. I believe I speak on a lot of people whenever I say this. As of January, whenever we entered into 287, people are, legal residents here are scared to drive to the grocery store. I don't believe we can have our police officers, our good police officers acting as federal agents and making arrests or calls based on immigration status. And I also believe public safety is not for sale. Our sheriff is now eligible for $140,000 grant by the government for participating in 287. And if this is true, like I said, public safety should not be for sale. And our local law enforcement needs to be focused on the city rather than federal duties. If we say this is for law enforcement, I don't believe so because I can't stand with ICE having multiple 4th, 6th, and 14th Amendment violations.

It's not constitutional and it's not Texas. That's about all I wanna say. I do not want the reputation of our officers tarnished by this ICE organization. You know, we have ICE officers breaking and entering homes warrantlessly. And I cannot have also a foreign intelligence Palantir agency surveying our citizens. I know this was done with good intentions, but please hear me. Thank you.

MITCHELL

Thank you for your comments. And realize because this is not on the agenda, sir, we're not allowed to discuss it, but our sheriff is in the room if you'd like to talk to him.

GOLDING

Who?

MITCHELL

Our sheriff is here today if you'd like to talk to him. Okay.

GOLDING

Thank you.

MITCHELL

So thank you for your comments.

And so we won't be discussing it anymore here because it wasn't on the agenda, but thank you for your comments and I appreciate it. Our next item on the agenda is the consent agenda.

I need a motion for approval.

FALCONER

Move to approve.

EDMONDSON

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion by Kevin and second by Diane. Consent agenda consists of 2 A1, automating appointments, Connor Herlock, emergency management, new hire, and also 2C, 2B is approval of payroll.

2C is approval of budget amendment request number 2026-150 for Constable Precinct 2 to transfer $300 from administrative equipment to capital equipment to cover additional costs for a portable radio that was included in the FY26 budget and any appropriate action. 2D is approval of the January 2026 Road Superintendent Report presented for recorded purposes only and any appropriate action.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Our next item is 3A is approval of a proclamation recognizing the Alamo Letter Society and any appropriate action. And I do have a proclamation here and I'm gonna ask Peggy to come up and introduce our guest, and then I'll read the proclamation.

PEGGY

Thank you, Commissioner. This Saturday at noon at the Courthouse on the Square, we will dedicate the Alamo Letter that was written by William B. Travis that is the victory or death letter that so many of us learned in our Texas history.

I'd like to introduce Chuck Wright, you'll come on up, and Judge Robert Ramirez who are both on the Alamo Letter Society and they're gonna say a few words about the importance of this marker that we're going to have permanently on our Courthouse Square and what we've got coming up. Thank you.

MITCHELL

Mr. Wright. Go right ahead.

FALCONER

looking for Ramirez.

WRIGHT

This is an august day in Texas history. 190 years ago, William Barrett Travis penned his famous victory or death letter.

So it is significant and meaningful that Judge Ramirez and I are here today as co-chairs of the Denton Alamo Letter Society project. We invite all of you to join us on Saturday at noon on the old courthouse, regardless of what time A&M tees off. Oh, sorry, did I say that?

And we're gonna ask his honor to actually read the letter, but the why is significant, very significant. Don't believe all the myths. There was one reason and one reason only this fight started.

Santa Ana illegally seized power in Mexico, tore up the Mexican constitution of 1824, stripping every Mexican citizen of their rights, much like the rights that we fought for in the United States. In fact, their constitution was mirrored after ours. Texas was not the only state that rebelled.

Texas was the only state that succeeded. Judge Ramirez.

RAMIREZ

Thank you, chuck.

MITCHELL

Thank you.

RAMIREZ

All right. Commissioners, if you'll indulge me, I was asked to read the letter in its entirety. It is a very short letter, though, I assure you.

And I do think it's important to note that we don't just honor Travis, but all the men that died at the Alamo and all the men that fought for Texas's independence, which include men like Sam Houston, obviously William Travis, Davy Crockett, but also men like Juan Seguin and the Flores brothers that joined in the fight, because just as Chuck had said, it was Santa Ana, the dictator, who tore up the Mexican constitution and trampled on the rights of all those who lived under the Mexican flag. And it was only us, it was only the Texans that were successful in gaining their independence, but they weren't the only ones that were aggrieved. All right.

Commonency of the Alamo. Bear, February 24th, 1836. To the people of Texas and all Americans in the world, fellow citizens and compatriots, I am besieged by 1,000 or more of the Mexicans under Santa Ana.

I have sustained a continual bombardment and carinade for 24 hours, and I have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion. Otherwise, the garrison are to put to the sword, the garrison is to be put to the sword if the fort is taken.

I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then I call on you in the name of liberty and patriotism and everything dear to the American character to come to our aid with all dispatch.

The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily, and I will no doubt, and will no doubt increase to 3,000 or 4,000 in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country, victory or death. William Barrett Travis, Lieutenant Colonel Commandant.

P.S., the Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight, we had not but three bushels of corn. We have since found and deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels, and got into the walls 30 or 40 head of bees.

Travis. Thank you.

MITCHELL

Thank you all. And now we'll read the proclamation. Thank you.

You wanna ask him to stay up here? Mr. Wright.

WRIGHT

Oh, I'm sorry.

MITCHELL

It's okay.

WRIGHT

Sorry about that. I had to say hello to Texas's finest sheriff, Tracy Murphree, in the back of the room.

MITCHELL

The Alamo Letter Society is dedicated to educating Texans about the historical significance of the victory or death letter written by Lieutenant Colonel William Barrett Travis during the siege of the Alamo. Alamo Letter Society founder Lee William Bill McNutt was inspired by a visit to the Alamo with his family, where they viewed a bronze plaque engraved with the letter from February 24th, 1836, and his daughter asked why the important letter was not displayed throughout the state. And whereas the Alamo Letter Society was formed to create replicas of the 203 pound bronze plaque containing the letter and placed in each Texas 254 counties courthouses, and whereas the society also honors key figures of the Texas Revolution, Jose Antonio Navarro and Juan Seguin, and

whereas through the dedicated efforts of the Alamo Letter Society, people all across Texas will gain a greater appreciation of the sacrifices of our forefathers, including the brave defenders of the Alamo. And now therefore be it resolved that Denton County Commissioners Court does hereby recognize the Alamo Letter Society for their efforts in erecting plaques with the Alamo Letter at courthouses across the state and extend our support for the project.

Denton County will proudly dedicate the Alamo Letter at the courthouse on the square, Saturday, February 28th, 2026. Done in open court this 24th day of February, 2026 upon a motion made by.

EDMONDSON

Move to approve.

MITCHELL

We have made a motion by.

WILLIAMS

Second.

MITCHELL

Commissioner Edmondson and second by Commissioner Williams.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Let's go down and take a picture. Thank you.

MITCHELL

Our next item on the agenda is a public hearing. I have a motion, a public hearing related to the creation of the Village Estates Operation and Maintenance Public Improvement District. And following the conclusion of the hearing, consideration of a resolution by the Commissioner's Court of Denton County, Texas, authorizing the creation of the Village Estates Operation & Maintenance Public Improvement District located in Denton County Commissioner Precinct 4 in accordance with chapter 372 of the Texas local government code and resolving other matters in connection therewith.

I need a motion to open the public hearing.

EDMONDSON

I will move to approve

FALCONER

Second

MITCHELL

We have a motion by Commissioner Edmondson and second by Commissioner Falconer.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Is there anyone here to speak in favor of this public hearing or against it? Is there anyone here?

Hearing none, I need a motion to approve.

WILLIAMS

Close.

MITCHELL

Close the public hearing. Thank you, Ryan.

FALCONER

Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Williams and second by Commissioner Falconer.

EDMONDSON

And then I have a motion to approve.

MITCHELL

All in favor?

FALCONER

Second on that.

MITCHELL

Let's approve the one to close it first.

FALCONER

Oh, that's true.

MITCHELL

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Now we have a motion by?

EDMONDSON

I move to approve.

FALCONER

Second.

MITCHELL

And second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Item number 5 is approval of a bill report payments from CSCD, Community Corrections, TAIP, Sheriff's Training, Sheriff's Forfeiture, VIT Interest, and DA Forfeiture Funds are presented for recording purposes only. Mr. May.

MAY

Thank you, Commissioner. I have no changes today. Recommend approval as presented.

MITCHELL

I move approval.

FALCONER

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion by the Chair, second by Commissioner Falconer.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Next item is a report for miscellaneous equipment and software services presented for recording purposes only in inappropriate action. 7A.

7B is approval of budget amendment request number 2026-151 for death investigation to transfer $24,415 from non-departmental unappropriated contingency to contract services to cover the full cost of the FY26 Tarrant County Medical Examiner District Agreement in inappropriate action.

FALCONER

Move to approve.

EDMONDSON

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Did I need to do the budget? Did you need to do the budget? No.

ALEJANDRO

Oh, we'll, uh, the budget kickoff is at the end of the, uh, agenda.

MITCHELL

Okay. Okay. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss you.

Item 7C is approval of budget amendment request number 2026-153 for vehicle maintenance to transfer $18,325 from non-departmental inappropriate contingency to vehicle maintenance capital equipment for the purchase of graphics printer to replace the current printer that cannot be repaired.

WILLIAMS

Move to approve.

EDMONDSON

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion by Commissioner Williams and second by Commissioner Edmondson.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Item 7D is approval of budget amendment request number 2026-155 for technology services to transfer $47,139 from non-departmental inappropriate contingency to cybersecurity insurance to cover the cyber liability insurance for FY26 that exceeded budgetary estimates and any appropriate action.

EDMONDSON

I move to approve

FALCONER

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion by Commissioner Edmondson, second by Commissioner Falconer.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Item 7E is approval of budget amendment request number 2026-156 for FY25 to relocate $1,539,965 between the line items with various departments and transfer $406,950 from non-departmental inappropriate contingency to various departments for a total transfer of $1,946,915 to cover budget categories that had a shortage at the end of the fiscal year and any appropriate action.

FALCONER

Move to approve

WILLIAMS

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion by Commissioner Falconer and second by Commissioner Williams.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Next item is 7F, approval of the county-wide organizational goals, budget calendar, budget process parameters, and establishing budget priorities for the budget office to use when preparing a recommended budget for FY27 and any appropriate action.

Mr. Alejandro.

ALEJANDRO

Yes. Good morning, commissioners.

MITCHELL

Good morning.

ALEJANDRO

Okay. There we go.

Yes. So, I am excited. I guess it's the start of the FY2027 budget process already. As always, I do like to start off by going over the budget calendar for the upcoming budget process. As I said, so today does officially mark the start of the budget process, and next Friday, March 6th, is when we intend to open up the budget application so that departments can begin working on their budget requests.

So, departments will have from March 6th to either April 6th or April 13th, depending on their individual deadline date, so approximately four to five weeks to submit their budget requests to our office, and then our office will work between April 13th to about mid to late July to review those requests and develop our recommendations, and so our goal is to present the recommended budget to commissioners court on August 18th, and we're proposing to have one budget workshop that day, August 18th, following the presentation, and a second and final budget workshop on August 25th, and then we are proposing to conclude the budget process on September 22nd with the adoption of the budget and the tax rate, and that's also when we will hold the necessary public hearings that we have.

So, these are the key dates for the budget process, but along with your agenda item, you'll have a full list of those dates that are pertinent to the budget calendar, so that is part of what we're seeking approval for today is for the for the dates that are part of the budget calendar, and then here you have just some guidelines that we've prepared for budget departments to for departments to follow. So, firstly, of course, we do have a brand new budget application that departments are going to be using for this upcoming budget process.

It is going to be done through Workday, through a module that we refer to as adaptive planning. We have been doing trainings for departments throughout the month of February, both in person as well as virtual, and so far they've been led by Nicole in our office, and the feedback has been positive so far. I know I've spoken to a couple of the board members before about our desire to expand on the training that we provide, so our hope is that it'll help to make the transition to the new application go as smoothly as possible, but nonetheless it's still a brand new application that departments are going to be using, so we're asking that departments go in and start working on their budgets as soon as possible. Secondly, here we are asking that departments not submit any position reclassification requests, so HR will not be reviewing nor taking any action on position reclassification requests for FY 2027.

If there are any specific questions, they can be referred to HR. And thirdly here, one of the biggest miscommunications during the last budget process that led to budget requests not being recommended was the lack of supporting documentation with budget requests, so we are asking that departments provide supporting backup. Narrative information is helpful, but I think as I mentioned last year, we really need to see some sort of data that's included with budget requests so we can properly evaluate them.

And lastly here, we are asking the departments also demonstrate how their requests are considered essential to really the core operations of the county, and not just I guess what we would consider a want. Part of the reason is because we are trying to focus on a core operation so that we can present a recommended budget to court that addresses all of the essential needs, but also really has the lowest possible tax rate. And then here you see just a few of the preliminary goals that we have so far.

So obviously we are hoping for the successful launch of the new budget application. I think that's, you know, there's going to be some questions that departments have and some on-hands assistance that's no doubt going to be required, but I think that as long as we can get departments to submit their budget requests by their given deadline with minimal disruption, then I think we'll consider that a win. And secondly, here we're also trying to focus on prioritizing continued workforce investment.

We know that that does continue to be a priority of the Commissioner's Court, and also to mention the fact that a workforce investment does get more expensive year after year, and of course our ability to generate revenue remains at that same capped amount. So it is something that really does require the assistance of county departments in limiting their budget requests to those essential needs so that we can continue to prioritize workforce investment. We also know that we're going to have to continue to address a lot of needs related to growth.

The population of Denton County does continue to increase.

There's a lot of costs that are associated with that growth that are really unavoidable, and so we're going to have to continue to plan for those as part of the budget, not just for FY 2027, but really probably for the foreseeable future, which is part of why we're trying to focus on just core operational needs as part of this upcoming budget process, and it's also why it's important that departments be able to demonstrate why their budget requests are considered essential needs, and as I mentioned again, just backed up with actual hard data, which on the flip side means that we're going to focus on deferring really non-essential requests, and so part of what I'm seeking is the courts okay for us to focus on recommending those items that we really feel are essential to core operations of the county or also priorities of the Commissioner's Court, and that would apply to new positions as well, just really focusing on recommending new positions that are really considered an absolute need, and that's those are the goals that we have thus far, but again I'm seeking, you know, any direction or questions y'all have if it's to the contrary of what we have so far.

FALCONER

I have a couple questions, okay. Well, first of all, thank you for getting this started. I think, you know, we sometimes think of the budget process as being just this kind of few months process, but for you guys, really, and all of us, it really is a year-long process.

MITCHELL

Yes.

FALCONER

And I also really just want to, sometimes we kind of go through these and they're, this isn't largely different than what we've done in the past, but that's good, right, is that one of the reasons why I think that we have the lowest composite tax rate of any county, large county in Texas, is because we're very efficient with our money, right, and so that whole conversation that you just have, and it's not just happening at this level, right, it's happening at the, all the way at the employee level and certainly the departmental level, and so I really appreciate the fact that we're just putting those kind of the needs, not wants, and in kind of real basic terms out there right from the beginning, right, so that we're not having to kind of filter that through really late in the game, which is really hard to do.

So I think that's great and I appreciate the work that you guys do for all this because it's really key to us staying very efficient and effective. I do have a question too, and I'm sorry that I'm having to bring this up now, but I realized that we just, I just got a clarification for me on the timeline, the August 25th date. I'm on the Texas Association of Counties Risk Management Pool Committee and I was originally told that our, we have quarterly meetings, and so our quarterly meeting, that third quarter meeting, would be during the legislative conference that TAC is having in Austin.

Well, that starts the day on the 26th, so I was thought we'd be fine, but then they just confirmed that we actually will have that meeting right before it starts on the 25th, so I'm just, I'm just wondering, and I'm going to try to work with them to see if there's a way that I can do it virtually or something, but we only meet four times a year, so I'm just asking what, what, what, what are the, what, what would happen if, if like that had to move, and I'm not, I'm not asking you all to move it, I'm just, I'm just asking about the.

ALEJANDRO

Yeah, so there is some flexibility there, depending on what that date is, it'll affect several other dates between August 25th and September 22nd, but we do have some ability to move that either to possibly a week afterwards, and maybe still keeping that September 22nd date, and then we just have to change like dates for when we post public notices, and when we have, we also have some other requirements on like filing the proposed budget, but all of those can be shifted, so what we can do is we can possibly move that date if necessary, and I think it would be fine, we will still follow all of the required deadlines that we need to follow as part of the budget process, because, because it does change from year to year, depending on what we have going on, so this exact timeline is different than it is every single year, so we do shift it around a little bit.

MITCHEL

Kevin, let me suggest that we, as a court, get together and check our calendars,

FALCONER

yes,

MITCHELL

and make sure no one else is affected by that date, or they cannot make another date and get that too.

FALCONER

Is that okay that if we,

ALEJANDRO

oh yes,

FALCONER

we just defer on the whole, until we do that?

MITCHELL

Yeah, can we all look at our calendars, the judge is out of town today on legislative issues, so why don't we, tomorrow, all of us look at our calendars,

FALCONER

yeah,

MITCHELL

and get it to alejandro,

FALCONER

yeah, and then we can officially approve it, and

MITCHELL

yeah, we should go ahead and approve the dates, but we can,

FALCONER

but we could revise it,

MITCHELL

depending on our calendar dates,

ALEJANDRO

yes, and then I could always bring back a revised budget calendar for approval, that'd be fine,

FALCONER

okay, no, that's great, thank you, I'm sorry to throw that.

ALEJANDRO

So similar to last year as well, we are going to be opening up the CIP process on February 26th through March 26th, and so really what this is, is the opportunity for departments to submit CIP requests, and it's just not, it's not just new CIP requests, but it's also revised CIP requests, with the purpose of just being able to maintain an up-to-date capital improvement program, and you also notice that we did increase that threshold from 100,000 to 500,000 last year, for what you consider a CIP project, so that's one of the things that was changed during last year's budget kickoff, but so that email should be going out, I believe it's this Friday to, for county departments, and so we also do have some revenue related information that the county auditor is going to be presenting on, it's a preliminary obviously at this point, because we're so early in the budget process, but it's, we still find it helpful to just cover some of that information.

MAY

Good morning commissioners, anyway, we're going to be talking about revenues, and you see here these, these are all the funds that are, that use tax revenue to help balance their budget, if not all, but a part, partly or all of it, and, and anyway, so when, other than the debt service fund, the other, the county's tax rate, all the other funds, all the other funds go into these various funds, so, and I just wanted to let you know one change that I'm making, I've made in 2026, which is a little different from prior years, and I ran it by our auditors and everything, but normally when we, when we collect these taxes for each of these funds, we normally would just distribute them based on the tax rate pro rata, you know, every time we get a collection, but one of the changes I made is when every fund, except for the general fund and the debt service fund, when we reach the estimate, or the, I should say, the levy that you set at the beginning of the year, then I'm not going to put any more funds in those once I collect the full levy and move it over to the general fund, because the general fund tends to take hits or, or surpluses depending on what's going on at the tax office, because throughout the year, the actual tax levy gets adjusted due to various reasons, like court cases, exemptions, and removed, or things like that, so, also TIFs and TIRs, we also pay out of the tax revenue, and the general fund was taking the hit on all those, so I thought it was more fair to put it, the, any excess funds in the general fund, so, but that will shift how the, I guess, what the balances are at the end of each year, because they're going to be exactly what you said in all these other funds, so, just to let you know that, you'll probably see that a little bit more at the end of 2026, and then I can point how the impact of that, so.

FALCONER

And Jeff, I think you mentioned, but just especially for the public, but the, from the, from the legislative perspective, the only one that's really treated differently is the debt service fund. That's correct. Right, so, yes, so, so we have a little, that's why you, how you, how you deal with what you just talked about is, is something that we can do.

MAY

Exactly, so, you actually, well, the debt service fund does have different roles, or different,

FALCONER

right,

MAY

different laws to follow, and all the debt service fund is, is tax collections, which would enable us to meet our debt service needs throughout the year,

FALCONER

right,

MAY

and actually, at the end of the year, if we have excess funds, it would actually force us to reduce our tax rate the next year, so that's just, you know, go away, so, and we've, we've done things in the past to help to keep that, those excess reserves, like commit to future payoff of debt, so we can actually keep them in there, or we've issued either tax notes or bonds at the end of the fiscal year, so we can set the rate where we want to, or I guess our debt service requirements where we want to.

FALCONER

Yeah, and, and, and that's just pretty clear, I think that's for consistency and everything else that we're doing, it's not, yeah, none of us up here like debt,

MAY

yeah, and really my goal is to keep it somewhat level, maybe, and

FALCONER

yeah,

MAY

Judge Eads likes it to decrease, so we've been decreasing it a little each year,

FALCONER

that's right,

MAY

but we've also been able to pay off a lot more reserve of our debt earlier, and, and it's been, I've seen the results of that, and you'll probably see it really soon when we're talking about doing another bond issue, so that's been very effective for us, and it actually gave us more opportunities to, in the future, if we need additional debt.

FALCONER

Yes, thank you so much.

MAY

Sure.

EDMONDSON

Jeff?

MAY

Yes.

EDMONDSON

Am I correct in assuming that all this good management of our money is what helps contribute to our excellent bond rating?

MAY

That's correct. Well, a lot of, part of, you know, a lot of our bond rating is actually things we can't control, like what's going on else in the county, how well the county's growing, but a lot of it is in our control, and in fact, if we don't do our part, you know, we're not going to get it, and so, but along that lines, we have, I've been having a goal or making sure our reserves are over 25% of the budget, and that's, that would ensure, or help to ensure that we're doing our part, and that's kind of the bottom line for that, but there's some other factors with that, too, and, but I'm always watching that and kind of making moves if we need to.

EDMONDSON

Thank you.

MAY

And this here is something you see every year. This is our different, our, we have eight different categories or sources of funding, or I guess funding sources of our county budget, and we'll be talking about each of these in detail with the exception of the, I was wanting to point out the fund balance reserves are not really a revenue source, but when we have excess reserves, especially, not necessarily just in the general fund, but in other funds where we collect fees and things, and sometimes we're building up a balance, and then we use it and use those reserves, but those are restricted for specific purposes, but we do dip into those every year in the budget.

MITCHELL

Okay, one-time purchases.

MAY

Yes, and here you can see how in the 2026 budget how dependent we are on property taxes, and this, right now we're at 75% of our budget is funded with property taxes, and the, even though the other ones look small here, but they can have big impacts on us, too, and we're going to see some of that when we go through some of these slides, but anyway, the property tax is the big one, and let's look at that, and this way, and here you see 2024 and 2025 actuals, and then I compared it to the 2026 budget, and you can kind of see what's going on with, look at property taxes, for example, in the 2026 budget we have an estimate of $341,000, but 2025 we already collected $349,000, so we've collected actually well excess of the, I guess, the revenue estimate that we had in the beginning of the year, and one of the biggest, and I've talked to you about that before, but probably the biggest reason you see the excess collections is because of the way deferrals are calculated in our tax rate, and anyway, in 2026, what I've been doing is kind of adjusting that up, or actually the estimate is more than the tax levy, because the tax levy assumes that everything's going to be collected at a worst-case scenario, which means none of our deferrals will be collected, and in reality, we're collecting well over 95% of them, and so we're talking millions of dollars with that, or actually it's more about 18, 19 million, and it's been growing every year, I've noticed, too, so I know that won't stay that way in the future, eventually it's got to level out, but anyway, but I've been adding more and more of that, and in 2026, we have about 50% estimation of the deferrals into the our estimate, and so we'll be talking about that, I'll talk about that with Alejandro, or other ones, making decisions and decide what to do for 2027, but that is something that I do expect to have a surplus, probably in 2026, because of that, so, and then fees of office, you see a drop right there, but I think that's misleading, because, well, we just implemented Workday, our new financial system, and we're developing reports, and I noticed that some of the the item, or the way we categorize what's a fee, or what, or determine which category it is, sometimes it's an opinion, and we had to redo all of our reports, and I see some of the fees of office, if you go down there and look at miscellaneous, you see that one goes up by about the same amount, and so some of those got reclassified on our report, I'm gonna go through and look at that and determine if that's really where it goes or not, and let's say some of that is kind of a judgment call, but it does have an impact on my trends if I mess with them, so that's what's going on there, and you can, we're gonna look, in I'm gonna go down, let's look at the property taxes first.

This is our 10-year trend on property taxes that we just talked about, and you see, this is the way I like to see a trend when it's consistently going up, and some of our trends just kind of go all over the place, but taxes, which is our most important one, because it's 75% of our our revenues are our funding sources, but we actually collected $349 (million) in 2025 compared to $324 (million) in 2024, so, and actually the biggest part of the increase is due to new properties, but you know, even if our property values across the county go way up, our tax for existing properties would remain the same, or our levy, well it depends, we can go up to 3% higher, but they, but if it was the same rate at the same increase, it would actually be that if everyone went up, it would be the same tax.

FALCONER

If I can, if it's okay, I just want, I think that's a really key point, especially for our public, is that they may look at this and go, yep, there it is, my property taxes are always going up, and look, they're excited that they're going up. When we talk about our budget growing, that is because we are the fourth fastest growing county in the country, and so when we have more people, that means that we have more need, which we talked about before, right? We have, we have to build more roads, we have to have more public health, we have to have more public safety taken care of, we have more courts, all that kind of thing happens, so our needs grow. Fortunately, those new people coming in are paying their fair share of taxes as well, so our our budget grows, not because we like our, not because we like to grow a budget, but because it's happening organically from our growth as a very fast-growing county.

MITCHELL

And Kevin, at the same time, we've been able to keep that tax rate.

FALCONER

The tax rate, the tax rate is, if you look at our chart, will go the other way as a dress.

EDMONDSON

Well, I think it's important for the public to know, we, as the Commission's Court, set the lowest tax rate that we've had in 40 years.

FALCONER

That's right.

EDMONDSON

And, you know, people don't quite understand sometimes how much effort and work and cooperation it takes to get there, but it is very important. Thank you for this chart.

MAY

Sure.

MITCHELL

Thank you, Kevin.

FALCONER

No problem.

MAY

And I was gonna go down here to fees, and you see that, well, something doesn't look right on the fees. Anyway, I was just kind of wanting you to see how the fees kind of fluctuated over the years, you know, ups and downs, and a lot of that is because of legislation changes.

They can have huge swings on our fees, especially in the courts when they reshuffle, or when was it, in 2023, I believe, that's when we had a restructure of all of the fees, and actually our fees went down, if that's the year I'm thinking. It may have been 2022. Anyway, I just wanted to point that out since I talked about fees a while ago.

And let's see on fines, that's not a very exciting one to look at. It's a small one, but this is, this is one you can really see impacts of legislation, because you think, oh, we're getting more people in the courts, and it should be consistently going up, but when they have laws come in and say, hey, people don't have to pay their fees, they can do community service. Well, that community service doesn't go into our bank account.

So it causes fees to fluctuate. And I'm not saying the law is wrong or anything. I'm just looking at it strictly from a financial perspective.

So it could have financial impacts on us. And of course, fees, you know, we're talking between two and $3 million for the most part. So, you know, that's not a significant part of our budget.

But if we have a steep drop, like we did from 2019 to 2020, and, and, and fines, that's, and that was due to legislation that year. And it did have an impact because we were having, we were struggling to balance the budget that year. And, and that made it worse.

So, and even though it's half a million dollars, that can make a big difference when things are tight. So, and then next, we're talking about intergovernmental revenue, and the budget comparison to this is not apples to oranges, because in our adopted budget, we did not budget most of our grant revenues. Most of them are done separate from the budget, because for various reasons, but some of them are, and mostly, I know we have to deal with the payroll positions that need to be in the budget.

For example, we have something, some of them that are like our indigent defense, this, I guess, formula grant. It is consistent every year. We, we actually do budget that one in there.

It's, we don't really do anything to collect it. We do send them a bunch of reports per report, but it doesn't have to do with how much we collect. But there's a few, and that's why you still see the $10 million in there.

And so, but the intergovernmental, one of the numbers are, they don't look like it, but they're really high compared to what happened before COVID. So those are usually, I guess, maybe $10-$15 million range, but I expect it to go up in 2026, just because we're going to be trying to, we have to actually pay all our ARPA costs, our ARPA projects that we're working on. And we don't recognize revenue until we actually spend the money.

So, so that's why it's impacting revenues.

MITCHELL

Okay.

MAY

Whether we've received it in the bank a long time ago, but we don't recognize it as a revenue. So, and then auto registrations I wanted to talk about too. This is interesting this year, I think. it's too far. There we go. We actually had a drop in auto registrations this year, as you see on the chart, which is the first time I seen that. And I think attracted to legislative change on the inspection fee restructuring.

And that it did have, I believe that's what most of that decrease was, because I know we haven't decreased cars in the county.

FALCONER

Yes. So this is this is the money collected, not the number of registrations, which is, I'm quite certain still going up.

MAY

Yes. And there was a bigger structure, it's kind of complicated, I won't get into the weeds here. But for the most part, and I haven't talked to Don way about that yet either.

But that's from what I've seen, that's what I think it is. And I'll talk to her just to get that verified. But I think what will happen if that's the case is we'll have this drop this year, which, by the way, you know, you're talking $600,000, which, you know, is a tight year that can have a big impact.

So but I do expect it to trend, have the drop in 2025. And then we'll start seeing the increase again, until the state messes with the fees again.

MITCHELL

Okay,

EDMONDSON

Jeff.

MAY

Yes.

EDMONDSON

I've noticed that if you buy a car out of Denton County, and there are lots of dealerships trying to get our business, unless you specifically say, I want this car registered in Denton County, the county where you buy that car is going to get this, this tax. So maybe we need to let people know when you're shopping, get the best deal you can. But if it's not in a Denton County dealer, ask that that car be registered in Denton County.

MAY

Yeah, that was that that is a factor also.

MITCHELL

So maybe somebody is using the train instead of the DCTA.

FALCONER

That's right. DCTA is doing a good job.

MITCHELL

Yeah. Okay.

MAY

And if you have cities on the county line, you know, it depends on which side of the line they're on, who gets the revenues. And let's, let's go down to interest and talk about that a minute, which would be here.

You see, in 2023, we had that just sudden rise in interest rates. And we also have a lot more money invested because of ARPA funds. And then, you know, we, I think we peaked out on our investment earnings in 2024.

And they're going down now. And I expect it to kind of trend down as, as interest rates are dropping, which are expected to, from the experts are expecting to kind of slowly drop over the next couple of years, at least. And you never know what's going to happen.

But that's what we're expecting. So as a result, I expect our interest earnings to go down. And, and that can also have a, that could have a huge impact on the budget.

We've been trying to not depend on interest earnings and use those for the thing, the one time things in the budget. But that, you know, that if that goes down significantly, you know, well, we always have one time things in the budget to fund to so it could put some pressure on us. So and you can see that could be a big impact.

And we certainly don't want a sudden drop in rates or, you know, we could talk a $30 million swing if it went up as are down as fast as it went up. Anyway, I expect them to go down slowly. And as a result, our investment earnings to go down.

And also, again, we have, we're still investing ARPA funds. So those ARPA funds are going to go away. So we're not going to have as much to invest.

So, but you can really see on this how it if you bank, put all your eggs in one basket on interest earnings, you know, you're going to get in trouble. And let's go back up here. And let's see, I just wanted to mention fund balance, I put n A's on the actual because we don't actually put revenue.

Well, the way we record revenue is in a revenue account, not in a equity account. So, but we, in both of those years, we actually had increases in our general fund reserves, some of our other funds have gone down, but our general fund actually increased and we're not finished with our numbers yet for 2025. But I expect that one to have another slight increase.

And I'll update you that when I went that when we get that out. So and the I just want to point out that transfer in numbers looks all whacked out and it is but it's because of some activity we did with bond funds in 2024 that 2025 numbers actually a more accurate looking number. So anyway, I think that's all I have.

Do you have any questions?

FALCONER

You answer the one I just had there.

MAY

Okay. Okay, good. And are this last slide just shows everything combined together on our revenues and use, we did have a nice trend, like I like to say, but you see what happened in 2020 and 2020.

And that kind of messed with my trend. So when that happens, it makes it a little hard to harder to project, but we're getting back to normal now. So So anyway, that's the big picture there.

MITCHELL

So, okay. Thank you.

MAY

Okay, thank you very much

MITCHELL

appreciate you

ALEJANDRO

And that concludes the presentation. Yes, Commissioner. Thank you.

SPEAKER

Our next item. You finished. Our next item on the agenda is A8 report from human resources regarding hiring actions of elected officials presented for recording purposes only.

Gustavo.

GUSTAVO

Commissioners. Good morning. We have one promotion.

MITCHELL

I'm sorry. We're gonna have to.

FALCONER

We have to I think we have to approve that.

MITCHELL

we have to approve that. So I need a motion for approval.

EDMONDSON

I move to approve

FALCONER

Second

MITCHELL

Have a motion and a second.

All in favor. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries

SPEAKER

and let the record show that that was for item 7F. Thank you.

MITCHELL

The idea that Kevin may need to change the dates on there.

ALEJANDRO

Yes, I'll get on my to do list.

FALCONER

Thank you.

MITCHELL

Thank you.

GUSTAVO

Okay, there we go again. One promotion in the county clerk. When you hire in the county clerk, when you hire in the county treasurer's office, five new hires in the district clerk, three promotions in juvenile probation, six new hires in the sheriff's office.

All of them. Detention officer. One's one three higher in the sheriff's office.

Two promotions in the sheriff's office and two new hires in the tax office. That's it.

MITCHELL

Thank you. Next item is 13 a is approval of resolution approving the Chapter 312 Tax Incentive Agreement between Denton County, Texas and Stellar Energy Americas, Inc. Is recommended by the Denton County Economic Development Department and didn't County Commissioner Precinct 4

EDMONDSON

I’ll move for approval.

MITCHELL

And I'll second.

We have a motion in a second. All in favor. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Next item is acceptance and approval of the reports from the Denton County Juvenile Board regarding inspection and certification of the Denton County pre adjudication detention facility, the post adjudication secure facilities and the suitability of the quarters and facilities of the juvenile court presented for recording purposes only.

Next item is 14A is approval of amendment number two to the jury plus jury management system, software license and service agreement between jury system Inc. And Denton County, Texas in the amount of $37,098.00 with funding to come from fund 1001 cc - 20300 S. C.- 54061 is recommended by the Denton County purchasing director in any appropriate action. I move approval.

FALCONER

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion in a second. All in favor. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Next item is 14 b is approval of interlocal cooperation agreement between Denton County, Texas and the City of Justin, Texas, whereby Denton County will participate in a feasibility study to enhance regional animal control services.

Denton County will reimburse the city of Justin an amount not to exceed $4,000 with funding to come from Cost Center 10119 County Administration, Account 48000 Professional Services in any appropriate action.

EDMONDSON

I move for approval

FALCONER

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion in a second. All in favor. Aye. Opposed. Motion carries.

Next item is 14 c approval of supplemental agreement number 5 to the professional services agreement between Denton County, Texas and STV Incorporated previously Chiang, Patel & Yerby, Inc. To increase the scope of the project to include additional efforts for planned revisions consistent of the addition of retaining walls, revised typical sections, revised drainage plans and revised bridge plans per text request for the Loop 288 Project from IH 35W to IH 35E in the additional amount of $549,752 for a total revised contract of $10,621,795.60 with funding the amount of $549,752 to come from Loop 288 with judge trip 22 P. I. Bond funds out of the line item number 89-7460-90-60 in any appropriate action.

WILLIAMS

Move to approve.

FALCONER

Second.

MITCHELL

We have a motion in a second. All in favor. Aye. Opposed. Motion carries.

14 d is approval of the renewal number three to the placement agreement between FasPsych, LLC and Denton County, Texas to provide telepsychiatry services for inmates in the Denton County Jail and respondents in the Denton County Juvenile Detention Center for a period of one year from March 14 2026 to March 13 2027 with an option for two additional one year term at the discretion of the Denton County Commissioners Court weekly calls for 22 clinic hours is $3,877.20 fund funding from personal medical expenses line item number fund 1001 slash CC-60970 slash SC-44010 slash PR-6015 and juvenile detention line item number funds fund 1026-CC-60400 slash SC-50030 and fund 7226 slash CC-60400 slash SC-50030 in any appropriate action.

FALCONER

Which funds were those? (jokingly)

MITCHELL

Read them for yourself.

FALCONER

Okay, I move approval.

MITCHELL

We have a motion from Commissioner Factor and a second from Commissioner Edmondson.

All in favor. Aye. Opposed. Motion carries.

FALCONER

And I would just say that this is and we've been doing this for a little while but the telepsychiatry is a real savings over having to have the in-person and another good example where we can use the technology in our favor.

MITCHELL

And 14 e is approval of supplemental agreement number two to the professional service agreement between Denton County, Texas and Westwood Professional Services, Inc. for the SH-114 Championship Parkway Traffic Signal project to increase the scope of the project to include additional services for work related to additional traffic engineering design services to include construction inspection and administration services for the project in additional amount of $142,500 for a total revised contract amount of $394,055.00 with funding in the amount of $142,500.00 to come from Precinct 4 Discretionary, TRIP-22, Auditor Line Item #94-7540-90-50 and to be transferred to SH 114-Championship, Judge, Auditor Line Item #94-7592-90-60 in any appropriate action commissioner precinct four we have a motion by commissioner edmonson second by commissioner williams all in favor AYE opposed motion carries the judge is gone so we're spending his money

FALCONER

there we go

MITCHELL

fourteen F is approval of a sixty one day extension to the agreement for alternate dispute resolution service between Denton county texas and the Denton county alternative dispute resolution program DCAP in the amount of $24,000.00 with funding to come from Mediation Services, Auditor Line Item #01-5392-2040 in any appropriate action

FALCONER

move to approve

MITCHELL

we have a motion and a second do I have a second

EDMONDSON

I’ll second

MITCHELL

we have a motion by commissioner falconer and a second by commissioner edmonson

all in favor aye opposed motion carries

fourteen G is approval of the contract agreement between Denton county texas and ed bell construction company for the FM 407 at I-35W Micro Breakout Project ITB# 25-2895 with funding in the amount not to exceed $2,058,938.60 to be funded by Judge Discretionary, TRIP-22, Auditor Line Item #94-7437-90-60 in any appropriate action commissioner precinct four

EDMONDSON

thank you so much judge for that extra money and I move approval

MITCHELL

I'll second we have a motion and a second all in favor aye opposed motion carries members we do not have any executive session uh... this week so we're going to go to

WILLIAMS

we still have twelve A

FALCONER

I think we had twelve A and uh...

EDMONDSON

item twelve A I believe was pulled

FALCONER

and that so we were going to pull that I did have a question on it

MITCHELL

I'm sorry I didn't tell you all that I had it on my sheet

WILLIAMS

no worries

MITCHELL

I didn't miss it but

FALCONER

on thirteen B I just want to make sure I'm not really asking uh… john because it says for recording purposes only but I wasn't sure if that was for part because it does say accept acceptance and approval of those reports I didn't know if they're presented for recording purposes or just one part of it or what

JOHN

commissioner you can't go wrong if the court wants to go ahead and do a motion and a second vote on it uh… typically for recording purposes only as you know means that there's no action that needs to be taken that probably could be in this case if you're dealing with juvenile probation because they have a juvenile board that governs uh... their operations so we can either vote on it or we can go ahead and just leave it for recording purposes only as stated and then if it turns out that the juvenile probation director decided the court did need to act on it then we can place it back on the agenda for that which I think is what I would I would recommend since it says for recording purposes only

FALCONER

okay all right that's fine

MITCHELL

okay our next item is item 17 community updates commissioner Williams

WILLIAMS

thank you commissioner uh... I just have one thing for today the city of Aubrey opened Wynn Ridge first responders dog park congratulations to the city of Aubrey for opening a new park dedicated to their four-legged residents the additions provides dogs with a green space to run play and socialize that's all I've got

MITCHELL

Kevin

FALCONER

thank you so a couple things first I want to congratulate Creekview High School in Carrollton uh… their mock trial team earned first place in region 10 tournament and so they're going to state competition next month uh... they have uh... been a state and a national winner uh...

for many years in a row so congrats for that consistency there too uh... and then just a few items in Carrollton uh... there's a home buying 101 a little class that will be at the Carrollton Josey Ranch Lake library on February 24th from 630 to 730 so it gives you some real tips and information on uh...

various topics on buying a home and then there'll be our uh... citizens evening in state of the city in Carrollton uh... this uh...

that'll be on Wednesday the 25th at 6 p.m. and that'll be at the senior center and then in Little Elm there's the big easy in Little Elm that is going to be a crawfish boil and a lot of fun and fireworks and everything else going on and that is going to be on the 28th from 5 to 9 at Little Elm Park and that's all I have

MITCHELL

Commissioner Edmondson

EDMONDSON

well we have in Denton a SNAP and WIC on-site experts to come and talk to people about the help that's available to them through the uh... Area Food Bank and uh… how to apply for SNAP the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and then the winter market edition of our Denton Community Market will be taking place February 28th 9 to 1 over at the Civic Center and my last announcement is happy birthday to my husband the love of my life I'm not going to tell you how old we just don't talk about that in our family but happy birthday babe love you and thanks for all you do for me

MITCHELL

all right precinct three events that we have in Flower Mound child safety seat inspection and digital ID kits and that's on uh... today at 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Flower Mound Fire Station number three we have the Flower Mound Philharmonic uh...

concert February 24th at 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. that's today uh… at the Flower Mound Public Library and in Lewisville we still have B-Day income tax preparation February 26th and 28th Thursday 4 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. and Saturday 9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and that's at the Main Street Lewisville Public Library and then at LEF in Lewisville an evening for education dishing up dreams February 28th 6.30 p.m. and that's the Hilton Garden Inn in Lewisville an evening of supporting students and teachers of LISD the judges comments early reminding people that early voting is Tuesday March 3rd for the primary elections early voting continues through Friday February 27th and the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. you can check at votedenton.gov to find the times and places where you can cast your vote and also congratulations to Chief Flower Mound Beautiful Marilyn Lawson she was awarded the Supreme Service Award from the DFW Directors Association for Park and Recreation Professionals this award recognizes individuals who make an outstanding contribution to their field in public parks and recreation also Denton County Sky One class Denton County Office of Emergency Management in partnership with the National Weather Service will host a Sky One class on Thursday February 26th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at TWU Student Union at Hubbard Hall this is a free in-person course to learn how to recognize identify and report severe weather in North Texas.

Kevin you brought up about taxes, Denton County taxes a few minutes ago and I want to remind the public that this is a campaign election season then I Denton County taxes is at .18 cents per $100 valuation as Commissioner Edmondson said the lowest it's been since 1986 also I want to remind people that Denton County is not a cartel. we are not corrupt. we do not have a slush fund. and we do not give special attention or money to anybody whether they're elected official whether it's me or anybody else. I want to remind our citizens that. we try to respect the citizens and work for the citizens who have allowed us to be here in office and if anybody that I know is not doing that, I will certainly call them to task. but I want you to know your Denton County Commissioner's Court is doing a great job as far as I'm concerned our county is thriving.

we have a plus 1 million people in Denton County, and we work to serve every one of those people. thank you.

FALCONER

amen

MITCHELL

and that go ahead Kevin

FALCONER

I said amen

MITCHELL

amen and at that

EDMONDSON

may I add one thing I believe that the polls right now during the voting period are open until seven seven seven at night I think it's just one o'clock okay want to make sure because that's six hours we can't everybody get out and vote bank your vote do it now on election day you've got to go to your voting precinct so we uh we encourage all of you to vote if you don't vote you can't complain that's a rule

MITCHELL

and that's that we are adjourned

FALCONER

thank you

MITCHELL

and I have something for you guys