ANDREWS, Texas — All of our West Texas cities are taking a hit to their budgets.
When stores, restaurants and businesses closed, people weren't buying and that means a lot of sales tax lost.
The City of Andrews is one of the hardest hit- that's because a huge portion of their tax revenue comes from minerals.
"We're about 90% of our tax base is oil and gas," said Charlie Falcon, the Andrews County Judge who oversees the budget.
It's not what the county wants to do but for the first time, they're looking at the possibility of lay-offs.
"We've just got to look at all of our spendings and just be smart about how we spend and what we're spending on, you know the last thing we want to do is have to go through any layoffs but it's not off the table," said Falcon.
The county may be able to avoid layoffs in their police officers but the same can't be said for those that work in the oil and gas industry.
"I do think about our constituents, our community that has gone through the reduction of pay and also job loss because companies are trying to save money so we have to look at it the same way," said Falcon.
Even with most rigs on pause, Andrews is producing a lot of oil for a world that doesn't need it.
"The effects of COVID-19 which are less travel for people throughout our state and we fuel people's, we produce the oil that fuels tanks of fuel for people's automobile's, so for that reason we have nowhere to send our oil just like everybody else in the Permian Basin," said Falcon.
With airplanes not flying and cars not driving, there's no demand for the county's main commodity.
As the county begins its annual budget hearings this week, they'll be preparing for next year's loss.
"As you start looking at those you've gotta start preparing for the lesser amount of revenue that will be generated," said Falcon.
Being proactive now will help save the county trouble in the future.
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