by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

Uvalde County Election Administrator Melissa Jones (File photo)

11/21/24

  The Uvalde County Commissioners Court met today at 11 AM to canvas the 2024 November election canvass report. 

Uvalde County Elections Administrator Melissa Jones spoke before the court said, “We had a really good turnout. We had 9838 voters who came out to vote.

When Jones was asked by Uvalde County Judge Bill Mitchell what percentage of the voters came out, Jones said it was about 54% to 55% of the votes.

  According to Jones, the Early Voting Ballot Board had already met and only 4 of the 173 provisional ballots were accepted. The majority of the provisional ballots that were rejected was because those voters were not registered to vote or the voters were just passing through. 

  Jones also reported that during the November election, the Elections Office utilized 10 election boxes down from 14 boxes previously used. While the voting locations outside of the City of Uvalde stayed the same day, some polling locations changed inside the City.

  Jones said that the Civic Center was the largest turnout location. “1082 people showed up to the Civic Center,” she said. 

 When asked by Commissioner Ronnie Garza how Jones notified the voters of the news polling place locations, she said, “We put it in the newspaper, we put it on our Facebook page. We notified the candidates as well.”

Judge Mitchell said, “Moving forward perhaps we should come up with a strategy of promoting those sites, those polling sites.” is needed to promote the new polling locations. 

Jones continued by saying the Uvalde County Elections Office did try to place ads on Facebook but were unable to get approval from Facebook to run ads.

by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

  County Auditor Alice Chapman presented the highlights of the proposed 2023-2024 Uvalde County budget this morning at the Uvalde County Commissioner’s Court meeting, Monday September 11th, 2023.

  She stated that the Uvalde County Judge is required by law to meet with department heads and according to Chapman Judge Mitchell meets that requirement.
$46,431,242.05. is the total budget amount which was approved at this morning’s meeting.

3% COLA is included: Chapman stated that employees elected, appointed or hired,  If you worked for 5 years, you are eligible for $16 longevity compensation which was passed 15 years ago as part of Texas Law.

Chapman also referred to  the County’s incarceration inmate expenses. Paying for inmate Medical care is an unfunded mandate. Chapman recommended a $100,000 increase in that fund in the new budget.

Moving on to the County’s Nutrition Program, Chapman stated that it continues to be a difficult program to fund. According to Chapman costs are high, food costs are high and we continue to feed citizens who qualify age wise for this program. However the law does not require we ( the county ) feed those over 65.$15K was  budgeted.

The Uvalde County Appraisal District or UCAD budget has gone up considerably and requires the county, city and schools to pay more to function.

Overtime was brought up.

Inmate food costs have increased. According to Chapman we use a vendor that meets the state’s requirements.

“Jailers, especially those working overnight, are hard to keep,” Chapman said .

Education and increase in certification of existing Law Enforcement officers referring to the certification fee the County covers.

“Another unfunded state mandate indigent defense is an unfunded mandate by the state,” said Chapman.

The movement of the Uvalde County Emergency Management Center or UCEMC moved from Airport Road to South Getty, Chapman said.

-795, 095 less money or 5.7% decrease from last year $200, 095 projected to be resided from new property.

Diana Olvedo-Karau addressed the court as part of citizen comments: “What items chosen fund and not to fund should be up for discussion. How you choose to spend the money it’s a matter of priorities. I implore you to table the budget.”

In the end, County Commissioners unanimously voted to approve the proposed tax rate for 2023- 2024 year.

.5872 proposed tax rate for 2023-2023 and proposed a public hearing in September.
County Commissioners vote to approve the proposed tax rate unanimously approved