Williamson County Commissioners Unacceptable Behavior

Williamson County Commissioners Court

Unacceptable Behavior 

Contempt for Citizens’ Rights

The Lloyd Case:  Wilco Commissioners asked individuals interviewing for a government job their religion and political preferences and then hired expensive attorney's to defend and create a legal right for the Commissioners to ask those questions during interviews.  

 Williamson County Injustice for Michael Morton:  Not one current Williamson County Commissioner would stand to demand examination of DNA evidence for a wrongly incarcerated citizen of Williamson County.  The victim, Michael Morton, was falsely imprisoned for 25 years, the last 5 years because of the Commissioner's old boy network and indifference to Morton's right to fair treatment. 

Old Boys’ Network:  Wilco Commissioners illegally hired a lawyer to protect County Court Judge Higginbotham from multiple sexual harassments claims. The District Attorney at the time, John Bradley, helped cover up the illegal hiring by the Commissioners.

 Cronyism/Corruption 

Wilco Landfill, the 40 - Year No Bid Contract:   Wilco Commissioners awarded Waste Management a 40 year no-bid contract to operate the Williamson County landfill.  Dan Gattis claimed a moral obligation to keep the contract in place.  Revenue from the landfill decreased while Waste Management claimed trade secret protection to keep landfill use records private. 

Favoritism to Contractors:   The current Wilco Commissioners accept up to 84% of their campaign donations from PAC and individuals that do business with the county.  Most of those donations are from the road construction community, which significantly benefits from the Commissioners' decisions to overpay for engineering services.  Up to 51% of the Commissioner's contributions come from donors and business political committees outside the county. 

Cronyism/Corruption:  Wilco Commissioners awarded a multi-million $ road bond contract in January 2014, and four months later, without any necessary changes to the contract or discussion of need, increased the labor rates to be paid to the vendors by up to 96%.  The vendors were significant campaign contributors to the Commissioners.

Fiscal Incompetence:

Tax Increases:   Williamson County property taxes rose by 69%, and FM/RD taxes rose by 133% since 2009. (Source Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector) 

Growth of County Debt:  Wilco has more debt per capita than any other Texas county, and it is increasing. (All the while actual average salary/income for Wilco Citizens is decreasing at one of the worst rates in the nation.)