CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County is looking at bringing on a budget manager who will work closely with the county auditor to find ways to cut costs related to the county budget.
"We already know that if we spend everything in our budget, we're in the hole," said Nueces County Judge Connie Scott.
Nueces County recently approved its $147 million budget, a number decided on after multiple cuts were made. Scott said the budget officer will help maintain checks and balances.
"To keep us in check, to make sure all of our departments, all of our department heads, our elected officials that have budgets underneath us, we are very restricted this year," she said.
Interim Nueces County Auditor Lisa Davis will be working closely with the new budget manager to ensure the county and all its departments stay within their budgetary constraints. However, being able to do that requires a specific skill set.
"Another person that can assist with the compilation of data," she said.
It's a role Davis said will come in handy, especially as the county is still feeling the impact from last fiscal year when local refineries saw increases in property tax valuations, which drove down the tax rate.
However, this year is different.
"The property tax rate rebounded to offset those refineries now that they've settled," she said.
Scott said that learning from previous years, having someone to help identify the difference between a need and a want will help immensely in the long run.
"There may be major occurrences where we have to spend money and we want to be diligent and prudent when planning for those types of things as well," she said.
Scott said the county will not fill the budget manager position until after the election. She said it gives new personnel an opportunity to meet and have a say on who fills that role.
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