Police agencies in The Woodlands area compete to reach pay parity

“A lot of our guys are working a second job,” Judge Mark Keough said. “Doing this ... gives them some freedom to choose not to work that second job, and allows them to spend more time with their family.”

What you need to know

Zitzmann said the goal is to keep the county competitive against other agencies in the region.

He said the number of vacancies in Harris County and Houston—at least 1,400—exceeded the total number of peace officers in Montgomery County, which is about 1,000.

“Every single one of us could be recruited to Harris County and they’d still be sitting on [about] 300 vacancies,” Zitzmann said.

Turnover in the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department is only 1%, and as of Sept. 3, there were only 20 vacancies, according to county information. Sheriff Wesley Doolittle told Commissioners Court in May that police contract negotiations in Houston have raised the bar in law enforcement pay for the region.

The pay parity plan will cost Montgomery County about $9 million in FY 2025-26, with a tax rate of $0.3779 per $100 valuation bringing in more revenue than the previous year, Budget Officer Amanda Carter said.

“Everybody believes this plan will accomplish what we are trying to achieve,” Zitzmann said.

Zooming out

The Montgomery County pay parity plan came in response to the city of Houston’s decision in May to increase base police pay by more than a third over a five-year period. The increases to Montgomery County base salaries each year exceed those in Houston for the next four years.

Community Impact previously reported that Harris County also slated $140 million for law enforcement parity raises, but as of press time, the Harris County budget had not been finalized.

The Woodlands

The pay increases will also translate to contracts with Montgomery County law enforcement in The Woodlands Township. This will mean a $2 million increase in the township’s base budget for FY 2026, which runs from January to December, said Monique Sharp, president and CEO of The Woodlands Township.

“This will be something that we will need to plan on for the next four years in order to get our law enforcement partners up to parity,” Sharp said.

The salary increases mean the township will continue to fund 100 Montgomery County law enforcement contracts in FY 2026, rather than add additional employees this year, according to discussion at an Aug. 21 budget meeting.

The township will also add two deputies in Creekside Park, the only portion of The Woodlands in Harris County, in response to the area’s growth. This brings the total number of contracts there to 17, Sharp said.

Sharp said Aug. 21 she was told by Harris County that it will not implement its officer pay parity plan immediately, so the contracts with Harris County officers for salary will not change in The Woodlands Township until next year.

In an email, Sharp said she expects the township will begin to fund parity increases for Harris County deputies in October 2026, a 12% increase in the budget for those positions from October to December 2026.

Shenandoah

The Shenandoah Police Department proposed an increase to its law enforcement salaries that would exceed what Montgomery County pays in the next three years.

“[In] our current pay scale structure ... we are no longer competitive. We used to have some competitive advantage over the county,” Financial Officer Lisa Wasner said.

Police Chief Troye Dunlap said Aug. 18 there were 28 men and women in the department, with four vacancies at that time.

“In the past, what brought people here was pay,” Dunlap said.

In exit interviews, officers said that their reason for leaving was the pay, Dunlap said. In FY 2024-25, the starting pay for a patrol officer was $62,000 a year, but that will increase to $75,000 in FY 2025-26, he said.

Wasner said a pay bump is needed because concerns in the department include retention, vacancies, recruitment and officer burnout. The pay parity plan will add $300,000 to $400,000 to the city’s budget expenditures in the next three years, and the department will add three officers.

Oak Ridge North

In neighboring Oak Ridge North, a police pay raise was not originally included in the FY 2025-26 budget. However, in a Sept. 22 workshop meeting City Council voted 4-1 on several pay increases.

Police Chief Ken Foulch previously told Community Impact that research was being conducted on how the city could increase officer pay to be on par with Montgomery County. The starting salary for a new officer was previously $61,500, while the new salary will be $71,000, effective Oct. 1.

“We kind of have to come up to scale or we potentially could be losing officers to either Montgomery County or them traveling south to either Harris [County] or Houston,” Foulch said.

Oak Ridge North, which has a population of 3,000, saw Foulch named chief in July after former Police Chief Tom Libby retired April 25.

City Manager Heather Neeley had recommended terminating Libby following the loss of 19 officers since 2020, she said at an April 14 Oak Ridge North City Council meeting.

Looking forward

The pay increase for Montgomery County law enforcement positions will begin to hit paychecks this October.

Pay increases for detention officers take effect March 13, 2026, and increases for dispatchers will be presented in 2027, according to county information.

In addition to the plan’s pay increases, it also offers stipends effective Oct. 11 for all full-time county employees who have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

“They want to go somewhere not only where they’re getting pretty good pay ... but being in an environment where they can learn and develop and be happy,” said Lt. Ken Washington, with the Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office.

Vanessa Holt contributed to this report.