While most of us have been bracing for winter weather, emptying grocery shelves, and worrying about whether our roads will survive the next freeze, something else has been quietly happening in Fannin County.

And it has very little to do with fixing roads.

Over the past several months, the public has been told that the condition of our county roads is the result of commissioner failure, their and our lack of education, rural residents asking for too much, or a broken precinct system. That narrative is convenient. It’s also incomplete and a whole lot of bull manure.

Because the TRUTH is this: the people maintaining our roads, the commissioners, the crews, the working men and women, are not the problem. They are working within a system that has been starved, redirected, and deprioritized for years.

And now, instead of addressing those realities, we are watching the issue be politicized.

The Real Problem Isn’t the Crews, It’s the Math

County road funding in Fannin County is thin. That’s not opinion; it’s math.

Roughly 65-70 percent of road and bridge budgets go to salaries and benefits, for workers who, in many cases, earn around $35,000 a year. That puts many of them near the federal poverty level. These are not overpaid bureaucrats. These are the same people pulling graders out in bad weather, clearing washouts, and answering calls when the roads fail.

After payroll, fuel, repairs, rock, and emergencies, what’s left works out to less than $1,000 per mile per year across nearly 1,000 miles of county roads.  One tornado, one ice storm, makes it way less for regular maintenance.

That amount does not rebuild roads.

It does not fix drainage.

It barely patches damage before the next rain washes it away.

Commissioners know this. Crews know this. Citizens living on these roads know this.

So why are we pretending the problem is structure instead of funding?

A Contest, a Petition, and an Election Year

Recently, former District Attorney Richard Glaser sponsored a “Worst Road in Fannin County” contest, offering a $1,000 prize. Participants submit photos, and the publicity drives attention.

On its face, that may sound harmless.

But during the Commissioners Court meeting, this week, it was openly acknowledged, on the record, that this contest is expected to generate signatures for a petition to move Fannin County from a precinct road system to a unit road system.

That matters.

Because this is not happening out of the blue. It’s happening during an election year. It’s happening while the county judge is actively promoting unitization despite the Commissioners Court having already said no.

And it’s happening while the judge himself acknowledged several critical facts on the record:

• that the court has rejected the change, several times

• that unitization would add costs to elections and staff,

• that it would burden election workers,

• that it could disrupt interlocal agreements with cities,

• and that it would require additional administrative overhead.

Despite all of that, the judge stated plainly that he would continue pushing for unitization anyway and that he could “take no from the electorate,” but not from the court.  Does he not know who elected the commissioners?  WE DID!

That should concern every voter, regardless of where they stand on road systems.

This Is Not About Letting Citizens Decide

Citizens absolutely have the right to petition and vote. No one disputes that.

But let’s be honest about what is happening here.

When an elected judge continues to push a structural change after the governing body has rejected it, while encouraging a signature drive, acknowledging increased costs, and promoting the effort during an election year, that is not neutral facilitation.

That is advocacy.

And advocacy from the bench carries weight, power, and influence that ordinary citizens do not have.

The Optics Matter, Especially in Rural Fannin County

There is another uncomfortable truth that no one seems willing to say out loud.

The county judge lives on one of the best paved roads in Fannin County, a road built under a previous commissioner, during a period when funding and conditions aligned. At the same time, the judge has repeatedly criticized agricultural, over 65, and veteran exemptions on the public record, despite personally benefiting from ag and over 65 exemptions.

That does not invalidate his right to hold them. Those exemptions are state policy decisions.

But it does matter when exemptions are framed as a burden on the system while enjoying the benefits, and while proposing a change that many rural residents fear will further deprioritize their roads in favor of population centers.

Unitization Does Not Create Money

This is the piece missing from nearly every public conversation. Changing the system does not lower asphalt prices. It does not fix drainage. It does not acquire easements. It does not stop overweight trucks. And hiring a road engineer, which unitization would require, costs a lot of money. Money that would come directly out of already thin road budgets. Efficiencies do not magically appear in underfunded systems. They rearrange scarcity.

What Citizens Should Be Asking Before They Sign Anything

Before signing a petition, voters should slow down and ask: What problem is actually being solved? Why was this pushed after the court said no? Why now? Who benefits from this change? And what have we already lost over the past two decades, land, water, control, while being told it was “for our own good”? Because this debate is not really about roads.

It’s about who controls decisions, whose voices matter, and whether frustration is being used to manufacture urgency during an election year.

Final Thought

The condition of our roads is not a mystery. It is a reflection of years of choices, priorities, and leadership. 

And if the predicted Icemageddon of 2026 hits, I doubt the current county judge will have much trouble getting to Brookshire’s or Walmart for whatever is left on the shelves.

Perspective changes when you’re already on dry ground, not stranded, not responding, and not navigating roads dismissed as “not good enough” by someone who told those of us who aren’t his priority  to “just buy better tires”.

That disconnect matters. And it should not be ignored while this county is being asked to permanently overhaul a system based on frustration voiced from the safest ground.