Buda officials are going ahead with plans to replace their dedicated patrol from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office with their own police force. The city already has tabbed Bo Kidd to run the department after Hays County Sheriff Tommy Ratliff demoted him from leadership of the county’s Buda patrol last summer.

Hays County Sheriff Tommy Ratliff kept his losses low in Buda and was marginally favored across the county, winning the Democratic nomination to fill the rest of the term left unexpired when the late Sheriff Allen Bridges died in December 2008.

Challenger Bill Huddleston came out firing against Hays County Sheriff Tommy Ratliff in the San Marcos Area League of Women Voters debate last week. Huddleston and Ratliff are competing in the March 2 primary election for the Democratic nomination.

Candidates for contested Hays County offices in the March primary will participate in the San Marcos Area League of Women Voters Candidates Debate Thursday at the San Marcos Activity Center (7 p.m.).

Local political junkies will be occupied by a number of contests in the March 2 primaries after the filing deadline passed Monday to determine who will run. Democrats will consider four countywide races, while Republicans will vote on two. The Democratic primary will include the much anticipated face-off for Hays County Judge between incumbent Liz Sumter (D-Wimberley) and Precinct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton (D-Kyle), who filed Monday. However, Hays County District Attorney Sherri Tibbe (D-Buda) can already declare re-election after no opposition filed.

Bill Huddleston, the Democratic Party’s 2008 nominee for Hays County Sheriff, announced Friday that he will take another crack at that office in the 2010 election, pitting himself squarely against Sheriff Tommy Ratliff, a Democratic who announced his intention for a 2010 run when the Hays County Commissioners appointed him last December to replace the late Sheriff Allen Bridges.