By Ginger Broomes

The Orange Leader

Budget Workshops have begun as Commissioners Court looks to the upcoming fiscal year. The first of several meetings was held to go over budget requests from various county departments.

There will be several of these public workshops to discuss possible budgetary changes, with no decisions due to be made until a Commissioners’ Court meeting around September. The next fiscal year begins October 1, 2018.

Orange County Judge Mandy White-Rogers asked the Court to consider something she said she had been requesting for four years – a state of Texas official seal in her courtroom. She also requested to keep two existing part-time staffers for the next year.

County Clerk Brandy Robertson also addressed the court, asking to replace various office furniture that was over a decade old, and to hire two full-time and one part-time employee, as the office was already understaffed and, due to legislative changes coming in January 2019, would be taking on more work, and to continue the task of scanning documents to make them available online. She estimated that the scanning job alone could take up to three years to complete.

Emergency Management requested approximately $25,000 in their for training and education, which would include travel and membership dues. They are currently allotted about $14,700 yearly for these expenses, but some of the additional funds would be for employees outside of the Emergency Management department – personnel “borrowed” from other departments.

Department of Records Management requested an updated microfiche machine.