The county's main responsibilities are managing the criminal justice system, running the jails, paving and maintaining roads, and keeping parks groomed.

The county's Planning and Budget Office had proposed a budget with virtually no new spending. But during their deliberations, the commissioners added $14 million.

Did you get that?

Even though there was no new spending in the proposed budget, and despite the difficult economic climate, these commissioners -- all but one of whom is a Democrat -- thought to themselves, "To heck with the tax payers. Let's increase their taxes and add some more Liberal social programs to the agenda."

The single commissioner who voted against the tax raise? Yep, you guessed it...the lone Republican on the commission.

Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, the lone Republican, said he will vote against the budget because the taxes are too high. "With every other taxing jurisdiction in Travis County proposing to increase their average tax bill ... the accumulation of all those 'small' increases becomes a burden to our citizens in today's tough economic times."

Included in the $14 million in extra spending is $400K that the commissioners plan to spend on human services programs "that have not yet been chosen."

They don't even know what they're going to spend our money on yet. They just now they're going to spend it.

Sounds like it's time to get a few more (a majority) of Republicans elected to the Travis County Commissioners.