Foster seeks Precinct 4 county post

Marcus Foster Business owner and pastor Marcus L. Foster is running for the Precinct 4 county commissioner seat.

Foster, a 1981 Lometa High School graduate, owns a farm and ranch construction company and fills a part-time role as pastor of Naruna Baptist Church.

He is a 2009 graduate of Baptist Missionary Association Seminary in Jacksonville. Foster and his wife, Beth, have been married more than 24 years and have four children.

With 25 years of experience in managing private funds, Foster -- a “lifetime Republican” -- said he will provide a fiscally conservative voice on the Lampasas County Commissioners Court.

“I think it’s a lot harder to manage private funds than public funds,” Foster said, “because if they don’t have enough public funds they just raise taxes. With private funds, you can’t do that.”

The county budget should be run like a business budget, Foster said.

“If I wouldn’t spend it for myself I wouldn’t spend it for the county,” he said.

With good management of funds, commissioners should be able to balance future county budgets without increasing property tax rates, Foster said. The candidate said large expenditures may need to be delayed.

Foster said a new jail, for ex- ample, should be built only if commissioners know a new facility will save money compared to housing inmates outside the county.

“We need to do everything we can before we build a jail,” he said, “but if we do build a jail we need a plain Jane, vanilla jail.”

The candidate added that he was unhappy with the $500,000 purchase of 12 acres as a potential jail site, and he said he would promote transparency in county government.

Along with capital expenditures, pay raises for commissioners also concern Foster. Salaries increased from $47,890 last fiscal year to $49,327 this year.

He pledged to vote for a fouryear freeze on salary increases for commissioners.

Foster also said he would dedicate 40 hours of work a week to commissioner duties.

“When you’re not at the courthouse, you need to be with the road crews and be willing to work right alongside them,” Foster said. “The taxpayers deserve a full-time commissioner for full-time pay.”

In addition, Foster said he will work to allocate road and bridge funds evenly throughout Precinct 4, as the candidate said some rural residents’ roads have not been maintained enough in recent years. Precinct 4 stretches from the Evant area to south of Lampasas. It also includes property on the south side of U.S. Highway 190 as far east as Farm-to-Market Road 2808 in Kempner.

“We need to be sure the road money is distributed as evenly as possible so all taxpayers get the same benefit,” Foster said.