By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

After setting their 2015 county priorities earlier this year, the Ellis County Commission met in a special meeting Monday afternoon to get their first look at fiscal year 2015 capital improvement plan and budget.

As it stands, initial estimates show the county will have more than $1 million less in revenue than last year.

County department heads met with the commission and presented their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year at the meeting.

Heading into the discussion, Ellis County Appraiser Lisa Ree said her office is estimating almost $1 million less in assessed valuation for 2015.

Ree said the real estate values went up an estimated $13 million in Ellis County, but that was countered by a $5 million loss in personal property and a $6 million loss from oil exemptions.

As of Friday, Ree said, the county had $13.9 million assessed in personal property, compared to approximately $18.5 million last year.

The treasurer’s office also estimated a reduction in motor vehicle tax of approximately $500,000.

Ellis County Administrator Greg Sund said Monday, if the county continues to tax at the same level at last year, it would shift to other sources. A move from personal property to real estate tax, Sund said, would not sit well with taxpayers.

Commissioner Barbara Wasinger said this is a “big hit.”

“That means all these wonderful things that we want to do and all these things that we have to do, we’re going to have to buckle down and figure out what are our absolute needs and what we can possibly do without,” she said.

The commission will hold at least one more budget meeting in July before finalizing the budget for publication and holding a public hearing later this year.