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Midland County commissioners unanimously adopt proposed budget

The court met for hours to finalize the budget, among other items, while dealing with county departments advocating for employee pay raises.

MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland County Commissioners Court was in session on Monday, and one of the biggest topics on the agenda was the Midland County proposed budget.

During discussion regarding what the final budget would be, many county departments advocated for raises to help them keep their employees. This stems from a raise that the sheriff's department recently received to promote recruitment and maintain retention.

The raise for the Sheriff’s Department was centered around filling a need in the largest department in the county, as it also possessed the most vacancies. The focus is to make the environment better while also paying them more.

This is the fourth budget that Midland County Judge Terry Johnson has helped lead, and assisting the sheriff’s department to receive more appropriate pay was a priority to help keep Midland safe. 

The budget also set aside $15 million for land acquisition. When it comes to how that will be used, Johnson said they are looking into the law enforcement building, or the sheriff’s office. They are also trying to do something with the jail, so now they have the money in the budget to execute next year if some of these things come to fruition.

The court did approve a 4% raise for all county employees, excluding elected officials, that did not receive an increase in grade or step. Johnson does not think this will impact taxpayers much from what the initial budget had planned with a stipend that has now been withdrawn.

Johnson is confident in the unanimously approved budget, and hopes that the citizens of Midland County understand that they have worked hard and done a good job for taxpayers. 

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