The big picture
Williamson County DA Shawn Dick requested increases, which wouldn’t exceed 15%, for an administrative manager and a felony prosecutor III, according to county documents.
Commissioners approved a 12% increase for the prosecutor role and denied a salary increase for the administrative manager position. Commissioners voted as follows:
- Felony prosecutor III: passed in a 3-2 vote; Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey and Precinct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long voted against
- Administrative manager: failed in a 2-3 vote; Covey, Long and County Judge Bill Gravell voted against
How we got here
Dick said the current job market is competitive, and Williamson County is losing applicants and current hires to other counties, the attorney general’s office and private sectors, who often pay higher for equivalent positions.
“The [minimum salaries] have to be right, and right now, I don't think that they're where we need them to be to attract the talent that we need,” Dick said at the Commissioners Court meeting.
Every year, Dick said he uses merit pay, or bonuses, to balance out salaries for the DA’s office, which has 55 employees as of Oct. 15.
Promoting from within is ideal, Dick said, to allow hiring in at the lowest experience level possible. However, when new positions are created at a higher level, the current employees who would take those positions already make more in their current role, he said.
The salary discrepancy is due to the county’s salary grade system, or the appropriate salary range determined for various types of positions. The DA’s office must wait until after the county’s upcoming salary study to request regrading positions, which cannot be done during a current budget cycle, Dick said.
“The problem is the grade,” Dick said. “And so when the grade is so low, when a new position is created, it puts us back to where [the] dollars on those positions are not reflective of the current market.”
Before the vote, the felony prosecutor III position was listed as $117,177, while other felony prosecutor III positions in the DA’s office have salaries of about $131,500-$140,000, according to county documents. The approved 12% increase brings the position to about $131,238.
What happens next?
Williamson County Manager Rebecca Clemons said the next salary study will begin in November, and salary recommendations will be up for approval for fiscal year 2025-26, which begins in October 2025.
Gravell said this will be the last salary increase he will do for the DA’s office until the salary study is completed.
What commissioners are saying
Covey and Long pointed to the felony prosecutor position being posted on the public market for less than a week, and in the administrative manager position’s case, not at all, since Dick’s intent is to hire from within, as reasons for voting against the motions.
Boles said while he understands the county’s rules and budget, commissioners should also consider Dick’s position.
“He's just trying to hire the people, to pay his people and hold on to them,” Boles said. “And I appreciate that as well.”
