Milam County has survived, will move forward

Last week started with Commissioners Court on Monday at 10 a.m. During Court we covered and decided several important issues in the county, including some changes that will be made for courthouse security. From there I went to Austin for judge and commissioner classes at the LBJ School. Many of the 254 counties of the state were represented.

The purpose of the three days of class is to teach, in part, the proper application of the Texas Government Code as it applies to our Commissioners Court. Our Commissioners Court is composed of our four commissioners and your county judge. The Court is the County Board of Directors as it makes decisions of county operation by a majority vote.

Decisions as to how to spend precious scarce tax revenues are always at the forefront and each Commissioner is intricately involved in every decision. In addition, each Commissioner gives a brief description of the work done in his prescient and the expenditures. As I sat in class and listened to the lectures and those from other counties ask questions and I began to think that we are doing pretty good here in Milam County. I realized that ours is not the only county that is short on tax revenue.

Ours is not the only county that lost a power plant or a medical clinic. However, I realized ours was a county that had survived and one that was going to make it. Our county assets, such as the power grid, the water and the transportation system are big draws for business and development.

We will see businesses locate at the Alcoa site due to the power grid and the large amounts of available space. We will see a new medical clinic in the Rockdale area in the very near future. We have survived the worst of an economic crisis and still your county is there for you providing everything from a safe place to live to health care. Our county will grow and our tax revenues will increase from the new businesses that will come. Our commissioners will continue to meet bi-monthly to make those decisions.