Lubbock County commissioners are deep into budget season. Each summer, the commissioners court parses through dozens of departmental requests to fund the county government for the following fiscal year, choosing what to fund and what to adjust.
At the center of conversation the past two weeks has been the balance of keeping taxes low and government efficient while providing adequate funding for what most agree is the county's No. 1 priority — public safety.
Lubbock County Sheriff Kelly Rowe has requested funding for a number of new law enforcement and corrections positions, including four patrol deputies, four mental health deputies and eight new detention officers.
The new detention officers would be assigned specifically to accompanying inmates to and from the hospital for healthcare. Each year, hundreds of Lubbock County Detention Center inmates are taken to University Medical Center, requiring one or more corrections officers to look after each hospitalized detainee.
Hospital trips account for tens of thousands of mandatory overtime hours for Lubbock County corrections officers each year, according to figures provided by the county. Proponents say the new positions would save the county money by cutting down on overtime.
The county's personnel committee recommended the commissioner's court approve the new positions. But Precinct 2 Commissioner Jason Corley doesn't believe those jobs should be funded until existing vacancies at the jail are filled.
"Adding eight people when you can't fill the ones you got? You're already 20 short and you want to add eight more?" Corley said during the workshop July 10.
The sheriff's office recently lowered the minimum hiring age for corrections officers from 21 to 18 in an effort to fill some of the perennially vacant positions.
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During a tense-at-times exchange, County Judge Curtis Parrish accused Corley of not putting public safety first.
"All four of you have said when you were campaigning, 'My top priority is public safety,'" Parrish told commissioners. "If you're going to make public safety your top priority, then this budget needs to be about public safety.
"If you don't want it to be your top priority, say it. There's a camera right there; there's a microphone," Parrish said.
"Efficient government would be my top priority," Corley replied.
"But that's not what you campaigned on," Parrish said.
"The only one who voted against all of the public safety requests was you," Parrish continued. "Public safety is No. 1? Not in your book."
"That would be your interpretation," Corley replied.
Citizens chime in on public safety requests, tax rate
During a workshop Tuesday, several Lubbock County citizens rose to comment on the budget following reporting about the public safety debate. Most asked the court not to raise property taxes to pay for the new positions. Some commissioners previously expressed support for a no-new-revenue tax rate in 2025 while others back a slight increase to fund growth.
Cary Shaw, the Republican nominee for Lubbock County Commissioner Precinct 3, said the county can prioritize public safety while still keeping taxes low.
"After watching the news yesterday and seeing the raking-over y'all got by the judge yesterday, I wanted to say that public safety … should be the No. 1 thing on the agenda, where you fund what you feel like you need to," Shaw said. "You fund public safety first to where it needs to be, and then you go down to the more important things from there until you run out of money. You don't fund your wants and wishes first."
Citizen Ed Garrison said his position is representative of many of his peers.
"The economy's tight. We're against taxes," he said.
Parrish was not present at the Tuesday meeting, but he said during the July 10 workshop there's not a feasible way to adequately fund public safety without raising new revenue.
"How do you increase public safety, increase roads and lower taxes? Or, which departments do you want to eliminate?" Parrish said.
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