CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Pct. 4 Commissioner Brent Chesney admits that Nueces County is in a tough spot.
"It's where we are today,” he said. “Could change, but right now, we're looking at some pretty significant reductions at Nueces County."
The county has between 80-100 department heads and elected officials, and Chesney said they all were asked to determine and send proposed budget cuts for their departments to commissioners to help the county cope with its budget shortfall.
He said the court could have made the cuts themselves, but it wanted the departments’ leaders to have a say in the process.
"We wanted them to tell us, ‘Look, if we have to do this -- and we don't want to -- but if we have to do this, where can we do it and what's your input on that?" he said.
Chesney said, as of Thursday, about 80 percent of department heads and elected officials had submitted their proposed cuts.
As for the remaining 20 percent, he said they will have to act soon, or commissioners will have to step in.
"We're running out of time,” he said. “We've got a budget that we have to vote on Sept. 13. So, we either have to have their input, or we're going to have to make our own cuts without their input, and we don't want to do that."
He said the county should make larger cuts in non-statutory offices, which aren't required by law.
County statutory offices will be expected to cut 10-15 percent of their budgets, and non-statutory offices will have to cut between 15-20 percent.
Chesney said a potential solution is focusing on the government’s 201 currently unfilled positions.
"That represents about $10 million, OK?” he said. “So, if those department heads want to offer those unfilled positions as part of their cuts, that's acceptable. But if they just want to say nothing, that's not acceptable."
Chesney says those unfilled positions could be eliminated, for now, but if the refineries settle their cases, it could change the current situation.