The Lampasas County Commissioners Court will hold a public hearing Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the district courtroom about the proposed 2008-09 tax rate of 62 cents per $100 valuation.

The proposed rate, which the Commissioners Court approved at its last regular meeting, is about 3 cents higher per $100 valuation than the 2007-08 rate. The upcoming fiscal year's tax levy has not been finalized, but the vote to approve a proposed rate sets the maximum amount the county can assess.

The proposed budget includes $300,000 for the construction of an animal shelter -- to be operated jointly by the county and the city of Lampasas -- about $100,000 for costs related to capital murder trials and $250,000 for housing prisoners outside the county.

"Most of that [tax increase] comes from a $300,000 animal shelter and from the annex," Precinct 2 Commissioner Alex Wittenburg said at the county's final budget meeting.

The proposed budget includes the first payment on the addition to the Lampasas County Office Building on Pecan Street, as well as $110,000 for debt service on the animal shelter, County Auditor Jack Clark said.

Clark also attributed the tax rate increase to statemandated expenses. The auditor said his office's proposed budget will increase by $137,000 compared to 2007-08, largely because of indigent health care costs the county must pay. Lampasas County will spend more than $100,000 on court-appointed attorneys for defendants unable to afford representation, he added.

"The department heads didn't increase [the proposed county] budget," Clark said. "The increase comes from non-discretionary spending."

Commissioners submitted more recommendations for the proposed budget than in past years, Clark added.

The proposed budget calls for a reduction of oneand a-half employees, he said, although county offi- cials initially considered a decrease of two-and-a-half employees. Temporary and part-time workers have been cut from all offices except the Texas AgriLife Extension Service office, Clark said.

"We don't take this lightly," Precinct 3 Commissioner Lowell Ivey said. "We go through, pretty much with a fine-toothed comb, cutting here, cutting there."

County employees will receive 6 percent salary increases. The 2007-08 budget included 3 percent raises. "This increase will basically offset the 6 percent increase in health care," Clark said.

Employees will receive the same health coverage they currently get, and co-payments will remain at $20, the county auditor said.

The budget for the sheriff's department -- which employs the most workers of any county department -- will increase by $140,000 compared to 2007-08. The budget includes $100,000 for fuel, an increase of $31,000, and $276,000 for employee benefits -- an increase of $17,000.

Precinct 1 Constable Gordon Nelson will receive a raise of $11,000 to handle code enforcement duties.

Sheriff Gordon Morris said his department needs increased benefits to retain deputies, as it lost the most employees of any county department this year.

Morris said three new employees are completing their training, and the sheriff recently accepted the resignation of another employee.

"There are so many areas close to us that pay more that we're losing a lot [of deputies]," he said.

In addition to higher base salaries than in Lampasas County, many neighboring counties pay deputies stipends of as much as $100 for each law enforcement certification they earn, Morris said.

"That's a real incentive for our officers to go somewhere else," he said.

Commissioners also noted a struggle to pay for road maintenance. Fuel price increases during the past year have raised the cost of asphalt for one mile of road to about $14,000, Wittenburg said. The commissioner said he had hoped to pave three miles in his precinct but might have to reduce that amount.

"Now I'm not sure I can even do three miles," he said. "We're just not going to be able to do as much paving."

With the cost of rock and priming added to asphalt rates, one mile of paving costs about $30,000, Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Vincent said. He also expects to pave less road than he originally had hoped.

"There's no way that we have enough money in road and bridge to keep our roads in the condition they're in," Vincent said. "The roads are going to go down. They're not going to go up."

With the county's operating costs increasing, County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse said residents can minimize expenses to the county by cleaning up litter and combating vandalism and the theft of county road signs.

"It's going to take more effort on the part of our citizens to keep the county up instead of seeing how bad it can deteriorate and saying, 'Oh, the county will take care of that,'" Boultinghouse said.