Committee denies raises for two Williamson County elected officials

"If this was solely about me, you wouldn't see me," Hobbs said. "The people being hurt are not me [or] my family. The people suffering [are] the 44 employees at the county attorney's office."

Hobbs said he has lost 40 percent of his office staff because of low salaries since January, which has required time to hire and train new employees.

An employee study presented to commissioners by Evergreen Solutions LLC, a group from Tallahassee, Fla., on July 23 found a number of county employees to be earning salaries below market averages for their positions. Hobbs said he did not have access to salary comparisons for employees in his office yet.

More than a dozen people from Hobbs' office were present at the hearing.

Hobbs said he was not disappointed by the committee's vote because the hearing was a chance to bring the compensation issue in Williamson County to light for residents.

"Nothing will get the public involved more than an elected official asking for more money," he said. "We have the Evergreen study being acted on this year by commissioners. This is the year to make a stand for our employees."

Hunt said she was requesting a raise in salary to $102,114.67, an amount greater than her proposed fiscal year 2014 salary of $99,185.81, which includes a $3,606.76 commissioner-approved raise, in order to get closer to market averages for her position.

According to the Evergreen study, the market midpoint average salary for a tax assessor/collector position is $125,368.11.

"I have not submitted an increased budget [for the tax assessor/collector's office] in five years," Hunt said. "I think the position needs to be paid adequately to responsibilities in office."

Since Hunt took office in 1997, Williamson County's tax assessor/collector's office has increased from 13 taxing units, such as cities, school districts and municipal utility districts, to 76, according to information she presented to the committee. The four area offices each routinely serve between 250 and 400 people per day, she said.

Following the hearing, Hunt said she wished she could know why members of the committee who voted against the increase did so.

"It's the process," she said. "The process worked. We had our moment. They were attentive and listened and didn't rule in our favor. We just move on, and that's that."