Consistent. Principled. Action.
Friends,
1. Great news on the 1115 Medicaid Waiver!
This is the change to Medicaid funding that promises more federal dollars with the express intention of increasing the number of Texans on Medicaid by 53 percent.
The issue is all but finalized. The map that the State released on Friday has Collin County grouped into a Regional Healthcare Partnership (RHP) with four other counties, Denton, Grayson, Rockwall, and Cooke counties; and includes the UNT Health Science Center as our anchor (the administration organization).
I believe that this is a great solution for our taxpayers. We accomplished our primary goal, which was to not be included in an RHP with Parkland Hospital District in Dallas County.
A second positive element of the decision is to have the UNT Health Science Center serve as the anchor for our RHP. The Center has the staff and expertise to perform as the anchor and is eligible to receive federal Medicaid dollars because it is funded by State tax dollars; yet it is not a taxing entity and therefore has no authority to tax the RHP counties. We will meet with the Center soon to discuss details.
Although the State won’t make a final decision until May 17, I believe that our RHP is set.
We are very grateful for the great assistance our entire legislative delegation gave to this effort.
2. We have another State unfunded mandate on the Commissioners Court agenda on Monday, May 14. District Court judges are State employees and are paid by the State. The county pays for all expenses of the District Courts, but the judges themselves are paid by the State. The Commissioners Court is being asked to pay the State salaries of visiting judges through perhaps August.
Join us at 1:30 PM on Monday at http://collin.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2 as we sort through the issues.
Visiting judges are used for various reasons to hear District Court cases. For instance, a visiting judge has covered the 380th District Court for a long period since the judge was removed from that bench.
I understand that for vacant benches, the State spends funds budgeted to pay permanent judge salaries on other expenses, so the regular State salary is not available. In addition, visiting judges are paid from a separate fund, not from the permanent judges’ salary budgeted by the State. But the separate fund to pay visiting judges has now run short of money. Which means that there are no State funds whatsoever to pay the State salary of visiting District judges in Collin County through August.
There seem to be two options. The first is that the State will presumably allow two of our District Courts to stop functioning until the Governor appoints the winner of the election primary or runoff for those vacant benches, as long as 30 days after the primary/runoff.
The second option? The Commissioners Court has been asked to increase the county budget to fund visiting judges until judges are appointed to fill our empty benches. That’s right, we are being asked to pay State salaries to keep two District Courts open. A total of approximately $90,000, although that number includes the shortfall for the Crimes Against Children court for which the Commissioners Court specifically agreed to augment funding. The figure may go up just to cover any summer vacations our permanent District judges may take.
I am not suggesting that the Commissioners Court will stand aside while the State allows two District Courts to stop functioning, even for a short period. I don’t believe that will happen, although we will explore all options on Monday. I am suggesting that State unfunded mandates are starting to appear on our agenda regularly. We can address other issues as they arise, but District Courts are core functions of our justice system. We have no choice but to preserve our justice system intact, even if it is by unfunded mandate.
Sincerely,
Keith
P.S. For those of you who want to read more: Did you see that every Democrat elected official in Throckmorton County, Texas switched to the Republican Party this week? And several from Coke County did the same thing several weeks ago.
Throckmorton and Coke counties are rural counties, but are still an object lesson for Collin County as we grow toward becoming a true urban county.
Urban counties tend to turn more liberal and Democrat, like Dallas County did several cycles ago, while rural counties turn Republican because, as they said, “…the area has been conservative and officials’ political beliefs are now more aligned with the GOP.”
It is incumbent on us to keep Collin County red as we grow into an urban county.