Hearing on requests for $26K raises set Friday

The county’s salary grievance committee will be meeting at 8:30 a.m. Friday to hear grievances — including one that the county’s constables filed to ask for $26,000 pay raises.

County officials said last week that the county clerk’s office was working on setting up the committee and finding a time that works for all the members to hold a hearing. The committee consists of six elected officials and three members of the public chosen from the county’s grand jury list.

The constables made a request during county budget workshops for an annual pay increase of $26,000 each. There are five constables, meaning that it would cost the county $130,000 to grant the pay raise. The constables said they were not asking for a tax increase of any kind to fund the raise but wanted the commissioners to find money in the budget for it. The commissioners did not include the pay raise in their proposed budget — it also was not included in the county judge’s recommended budget — and cannot raise taxes at this time so would have to cut someone else’s budget to fund the pay raise.

Officials said the committee meeting will be open to the public. The meeting will consist of a presentation from counsel regarding the committee procedures, a hearing of grievances filed by elected officials in response to the Fiscal Year 2019 budget, committee deliberation of the grievances and a vote by secret ballot on each grievance.

The committee will meet in Room 301 of the Hays County Courthouse.