Bill Spinks
wspinks@cherryroad.com
Ryan Garrett will be resigning as county chief of staff, Ellis County Judge John Wray announced at the end of Tuesday afternoon’s regular bi-weekly Commissioners’ Court meeting.
Garrett will stay on until after the county passes its 2025-2026 fiscal year budget, Wray said. The court is scheduled to hold a public hearing and consider the new budget and tax rate at its Sept. 16 meeting. Those would go into effect on Oct. 1, which is the start of the new fiscal year.
Garrett was the point man for the county on arranging and communicating the annual budget for the court during his two years in the position. Prior to that, he served the county as an assistant auditor.
An Air Force veteran, Garrett owns an impressive resume. He is a 2004 graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and has earned master’s degrees from both Texas A&M University and Arizona State University. From 2006 to 2018, Garrett worked in several roles within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Related to Garrett’s budget duties, the Commissioners’ Court kept unchanged a proposed property tax rate of 27.3992 cents per $100 taxable valuation for the 2025-2026 fiscal year during an Aug. 25 special meeting, resulting in a total revenue of $90.2 million for maintenance and operations, $2.9 million for interest and sinking, and $7 million for the farm to market fund.
The unchanged total amount represents a $7 million increase in revenue over the current fiscal year, Garrett told the court during the special meeting.
On Aug. 25, the court took no action on contract agreements with VR Systems Inc. for 100 epollbooks and separate software and hardware license and maintenance agreements, after county elections administrator Jana Onyon said other possible offline alternatives had been found.
Onyon said the county’s current service provider, California-based Votec, has essentially gone out of business as of early August, leaving several large Texas counties — including Ellis — in the lurch and necessitating a new vendor with only a short window before Election Day on Nov. 4.
Despite it being an off year, several local items will be on the ballot, including a state constitutional referendum on a homestead exemption increase and a Midlothian ISD bond issue vote.
Fast-forwarding back to Tuesday’s regular meeting, action by the court included the approval of the consent agenda, passage of a number of developmental items, purchasing item approvals, cancellation of a scheduled Sept. 9 court meeting, and approval of a grant to allow the North Texas Behavioral Health Authority to accept a grant for a deputy mental health position with a 50-percent county match.
Following public hearings, the court approved continuation of a 6-percent payment rate to the Ellis County local provider program to benefit the county’s three hospitals, and approved stop signs at the intersection of Angus Road and Hoyt Road in Precinct 3.
At the beginning of Tuesday’s regular meeting, Wray presented a proclamation declaring September as National Suicide Prevention Month in Ellis County. The North Texas Behavioral Health 24-hour crisis hotline is 866-260-8000, or one may dial 988 for the national hotline.
All members of the court were present for both meetings.
