The Lampasas County Commissioners Court plans to decrease its total property tax rate in the upcoming fiscal year from 60.55 cents per $100 valuation to 59.57 cents per $100.

Property owners still may have to pay more taxes than they did this fiscal year, however, if their properties’ appraised values increase.

The county’s new budget, which commissioners have discussed but not officially approved, will take effect Oct. 1.

Commissioners plan to reduce the tax rate for the second consecutive year, County Auditor Jack Clark said, to relieve taxpayers in the midst of a sluggish economy.

“The commissioners and department heads — elected officials — are concerned about the financial burdens on the people in this county,” he said, “and they did everything they could to minimize that burden.”

Against Clark’s recommendation, the four county commissioners have decided not to take pay raises during the upcoming fiscal year. The county judge and other county employees will receive 3 percent raises. Increased health insurance copayments that will take effect in the upcoming year, however, actually may lower many employees’ take-home pay, the county auditor said.

Clark suggested commissioners receive the same pay increases as other county employees and officials, and he encouraged commissioners to reimburse the county for their extra pay if they don’t believe they should receive raises. By foregoing pay increases, the auditor said, commissioners will make running for office less attractive for future potential candidates and allow pay levels for road crews — whom commissioners supervise — to draw nearer to those of their bosses.

Although Clark said the new fiscal year’s tax rate may provide relief for some property owners, increasing county expenses worry the auditor, who believes a tax increase is likely in fiscal year 2011-2012.

Indigent health care, for example, which the county must provide for those who do not have health insurance and cannot receive funding for their health care through other government agencies, typically costs the county $100,000 to $133,000 per year. With jobs and work-related health insurance being cut because of economic troubles, Clark expects indigent health care to cost the county as much as $200,000 this year.

Expenses for mandated courtappointed attorneys, indigent children’s defense, juvenile detention and the housing of adult inmates also are increasing, Clark said.

Rising oil and emulsion costs, and limited numbers of road maintenance staff, also mean commissioners will do only limited road work during the upcoming year, he said.

“All they can do is just prioritize and hope we don’t get any floods,” Clark said.

Each commissioner has two precinct road workers and faces paving costs that have increased from about $6,000 per mile 10 years ago to between $16,000 and $20,000 per mile, Clark said. To repair two to three miles of road per precinct per year, the auditor said each commissioner would need a road and bridge budget of $200,000 to $250,000 and one or two additional employees. Those extra expenses would equal about $750,000 to $900,000 per year — about the amount raised by a 9 percent tax increase, Clark said.

“This county can’t afford that, so all we can do is prioritize,” the auditor said.

To balance the upcoming year’s budget without raising taxes, commissioners plan to transfer to the road and bridge fund about $100,000 from the farm-to-market and lateral road budget. Farm- to-market and lateral road funds must be spent only on right of way purchases for roads and bridges, and on “lateral roads” — like County Road 2200 — that connect to state or federal roads.

The fund transfer will allow other road and bridge monies to be spent on non-lateral county roads, Clark said. The auditor added, however, that maintaining a healthy farm-to-market and lateral road balance is important for funding special projects, such as the recently completed FM 1715 or the planned bypass route around Copperas Cove.

“We can do it this year,” Clark said of transferring $100,000 to the road and bridge fund. “We can’t make it a trend.”

Clark, who generally recommends a 3 percent tax hike each year to help the county match inflation, said a year from now he may suggest both a road and bridge tax increase and a general fund tax increase to allow for higher salaries in certain departments.

If the county has a sufficient fund balance at the end of next month, when the 2009-2010 fiscal year concludes, Clark plans to create a special fund for salary increases. This will help the county minimize future tax hikes, he said.

“The worst thing the county can do is to have a tax increase in the same year as a salary increase, because it will be perceived as raising taxes to raise salaries, even if it’s not,” the county auditor said.

Salaries in Lampasas County were fairly competitive with pay for comparable work in neighboring entities until about three years ago, Clark said. Commissioners’ road hands now make less than road crews in other counties, however, and the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Office, in particular, has been losing employees to higherpaying law enforcement agencies nearby, Clark said.

“Our problem with law enforcement is we train and give experience, and then they leave for someplace where they can get more pay,” the auditor said.

Clark hopes to change the county’s compensation structure — which he said includes only “deputies” and “chief deputies” in each department — and institute a sheriff’s office pay system similar to that used by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Such a restructuring, he said, not only would improve staff retention by raising starting employees’ salaries but also would give experienced workers more opportunities for advancement with the county.

Clark said he appreciates staff members’ efforts during the last two years to trim their budgets while still serving county residents.

“I wouldn’t swap the department heads I have in this county with the employees in any other county I’ve worked with,” the auditor said.

A public hearing on the 2010- 2011 budget will be Aug. 24 at 6:30 p.m. Commissioners plan to adopt a budget and tax rate Sept. 27.