Burnet County Pct. 3 candidates unveil positions on issues
By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor
Burnet County Precinct 3 Commissioner candidates William D. “Dee” Haddock and incumbent Billy Wall answered questions exclusively for The Highlander editorial board this week as a preamble to the Tuesday, March 3, Republican primary election. …
One question was posed as follows:
Question 4. If forced to look for budget cuts, what areas do you see as being ones you would consider first in order to make sure the county stays fiscally sound? What are areas that should be the very last ones cut?
Haddock: The first place to look at is to avoid costs of unnecessary travel and training for County staff. I would consult salary surveys for employee pay in similar sized counties and in the market to ensure we are paying market rates, not to necessarily cut wages, but to hire at the right rates if they are out of line with the salary surveys. There is an option to cease indigent health care, as there are other private options to meet those needs. The last place to cut would be those departments that produce revenue for the County.
Wall: This is a situation that we need to get the public involved in by having a series of town hall meetings to decide what is the most important things to save and what to cut. Ultimately it is in their hands due to the fact that they will make the decision for a forced new tax election. And, if that fails, then we could go out for a bond package that would create the revenue to operate and create new infrastructure. …
Early voting for the primaries concludes at the Texas AgriLife Extension office in Burnet and the Marble Falls Courthouse Annex at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28. Election day voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, at designated locations.
Find more candidates' questions and answers and voting sites for election day in the Friday, Feb. 28 issue of The Highlander, the newspaper of record for the Highland Lakes. To offer a comment or news tip, email lew@highlandernews.com. To subscribe to the newspaper, call 830-693-4367 or click here to subscribe to our e-Edition online.
