Williamson County Commissioners approved pay raises for elected officials, district judges and county court at law judges at their July 30 meeting.
In all, the raises call for an extra $62,514.90 in the county's 2013–14 fiscal year budget.
The court approved a 5 percent raise for constables and justices of the peace and a 4 percent raise for all elected officials, including the county judge and commissioners.
County Judge Dan Gattis originally sought a 2 percent raise for his position, but Commissioner Ron Morrison requested the county judge receive the same raise percentage rate as the rest of the court.
"I want the judge to take the same heat we do," Morrison said.
Each commissioner will receive a salary increase of $3,369.47 per year, raising their yearly income to $89,508, according to a Williamson County public notice. The county judge's salary would increase by $4,227.81, creating a yearly income of $109,923.12 per year, including $4,800 earned for serving on the Juvenile Board.
Discussion regarding raises for county employees was sparked by a presentation at the July 23 meeting on the findings of an employee survey presented by Evergreen Solutions LLC, a group from Tallahassee, Fla.
Evergreen's survey did not focus much attention on elected positions, Gattis and Commissioner Valerie Covey noted, but found Williamson County employee compensation to be lower than pay for similar jobs in comparably sized counties in the state.
Constables and justice of the peace salaries in particular were found to be lacking in the Evergreen survey, which found two of the four county constables, in Precincts 2 and 3, were being paid less than their chief deputies, which is why Gattis suggested a higher increase for those employees.
Covey said she asked her staff to look for salary information for elected officials in state counties including Montgomery, Fort Bend, Denton and Travis to get more information on how Williamson County compared following the Evergreen presentation July 23.
Denton County's proximity to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex made it favorable for comparison to Williamson County, Covey said.
"County commissioners make $86,000 [per year] here," she said. "They make $147,000 [per year] there."
Covey did specify the numbers she shared with the court were "unaudited" due to only having a short amount of time to collect them.
Supplemental pay
The commissioners' decision to increase the supplemental pay to district judges and district attorneys was based on a decision in the state Legislature to allow counties to increase how much they could supplement. The court voted 3-2 for the increase.
District judge and district attorney salaries come from the state, and counties have the option to provide supplemental pay to the positions.
County court at law judges are paid by the county, but the state rebates an amount equal to 60 percent of a county's district judge salary for each county court at law judge.
"That's what's given to us from the state," said Connie Watson, public affairs manager for Williamson County. "Sixty percent of a district judge's salary for each county court at law judge."
By statute, county court at law judges must make $1,000 less per year than district judges.
Gattis' motion was to increase Williamson County's supplement to the four county court at law judges from $15,000 per year to $18,000.
Commissioners Lisa Birkman and Valerie Covey voted against the increase for judge's supplements. Birkman's opposition to the motion was the mandate that the raises go to all judges.
"When we have one judge who has refused criminal cases for three years, I'm hesitant to give him a raise," she said. "I understand it's out of our control, but we have to give the same raise to everyone. It just doesn't seem right."
