The Lubbock County commissioners approved a tax increase yesterday that will affect many Lubbock residents.
The increase will primarily benefit the new county jail, county employees and the hospital district, Ysidro Gutierrez, county commissioner for Precinct 3, said in a phone interview.
This year is the second straight year the commissioners have increased taxes. Gutierrez said the increase was not his choice.
"You're talking to the one county commissioner who voted against this increase," Gutierrez said.
The increase, he said, indirectly affects everyone who does not live on Tech campus because of increased property taxes.
"For a $100,000 home," he said, "property taxes will increase $24.14 per year. This funds 32 different departments."
The total amount paid in taxes is estimated at $32 million, $12.7 million of which will fund the new county jail, which has an undecided completion date sometime in the middle of 2008.
Gutierrez said all nonelected county employees will benefit from pay increases. The only elected county employees who benefit from the increase are judges, who again will make what they made prior to supplemental pay decreases last year.
The new county jail will require more than 100 new employees to be hired, which is why, Gutierrez said, he wanted to wait another year to raise taxes.
"Last year we had no choice but to raise taxes because of the new state voting regulations," he said. "But this year we had a choice."
Gutierrez said the new jail alone will increase taxes to pay employees and other departments which have increasing needs.
The hospital district requested money from the county commissioners to help provide care to those who cannot afford it. The commissioners gave the hospitals $13 million, costing Lubbock county taxpayers an approximate additional $4 for every $100,000 home.
Gutierrez said the vote for the hospital bill was unanimous.
Bill McCay, Lubbock county commissioner for Precinct 1, said the primary reasons for the tax increase were to account for the county's growing population and jail population. With an increase in population comes an increase in the number of court cases.
"A growing pain of a growing county is a growing cell population," McCay said. "We are working towards getting the state legislature to increase fees, fines and court costs or getting them to let the counties keep more of the money so taxes don't increase."
assistant district attorneys also benefit from a pay increase, McCay said, to enable the offices to keep hiring better qualified assistant district attorneys so the state can win more cases and put more criminals in jail for the safety of Lubbock citizens.
He said state law requires counties to increase funding for increased jail occupancy.
"I did not want to vote for a tax increase - it made me uncomfortable - but I need to comply with state laws," McCay said. "We had no other options. Money has to come from somewhere."
Maj. Jerry Baggs of the Lubbock County Sheriff's Department said the number of arrests has increased in the past year.
"Since last year our arrest rate has increased on average from 42 to 50 arrests per day," he said. "A tax increase was necessary because of the new jail."
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