The first meeting of 2014 for Ellis County Commissioners is Monday, January 6.   The meetings will now begin at 5p.m. rather than 6:45p.m.

The earlier start time allows Ellis County Counselor Bill Jeter to attend the county sessions.  Jeter is also counsel for the Hays USD 489 school board that also meets Monday evenings at 6:30p.m.

On the agenda, a report of the first full month’s revenue from the county’s new half-cent sales tax.

According to County Administrator Greg Sund, the money is received in two disbursements.   First, the state gives the county its 42% share.  Second, the county also receives the city of Hays’ share from the city.

“We plan to account for these two revenue sources separately,” Sund writes in his administrator’s report, ” so we can assess how much comes from the County share and how much comes from the Hays share.”

” I don’t plan to make this a monthly report other than possible mention in the financial report, but for this first month, I wanted to be clear how we get the revenue in case there are any questions,” says Sund.

Following rejection of the bids for the Administrative Center and EMS/Rural Fire Building projects, county commissioners will also discuss meeting with the architects to discuss changes to the specs and designs that will help the project come under budget.

“In the case of each project,” estimates Sund, “we are looking to cut about $450,000.”

Monday’s agenda is available on the county website.