Everybody’s Got a Wish List as County Considers New Budget

Fayette County Commissioners Court held a special meeting Thursday afternoon to review department requests for the 2022 County budget.

Total budget requests this year stand at $28,257,978.94. That amounts to almost $3 million, or an 11.6 percent increase, over total spending in this year’s approved budget of roughly $25.3 million. None of that has been approved yet.

Some of the requests were for road and bridge equipment including tractors, dump trailers, pickup trucks, a motor grader and an “Extend-a-Hoe” backhoe. The Sheriff’s Office requested 10 new Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicles. The County’s IT department requested various computers, a firewall and hard drive upgrades. Commissioners are also considering a generator to provide backup power to the Courthouse and County Clerk’s office.

Pay Raises Proposed

Much of the discussion, however, centered around pay increases for County employees.

The Sheriff’s Office asked for a five percent pay increase for jailers, along with increases in certificate pay, extra pay for military veterans, college graduates and bilingual employees. The Sheriff asked for a clothing allowance for plain clothes officers and a longevity pay program for employees. Deputies would get $20 a month for every year of service. 911 Dispatchers would get $25 per month after five years of service and $50 a month after 10 years of service.

County Judge Joe Weber asked for raises ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 a year for workers in his office, which includes courthouse janitorial and maintenance staff, the County Court Administrator, Emergency Management, and indigent healthcare coordinator.

District Judge Jeff Steinhauser requested a five percent pay raise for the district court administrator and court reporter. The County Auditor’s Department also requested a five percent raise for employees.

The District Clerk’s office requested an extra $3,500 for cost of living raises for employees.

Also proposed were salary increases for the four constables of $4,000 annually. Weber said that would he said would bring their salaries in line with constables in other similarly-sized counties.

Commissioners discussed a possible three percent pay raise for all County employees in lieu of the raises requested by the various departments. Commissioners came up with that figure after studying a survey comparing salaries of Fayette County employees to employees of other counties in Texas of a similar size.

Under the plans they discussed, the County would budget for a three percent across-the-board raise, but department heads would be free to distribute the raises based on performance.

Commissioners left open the possibility of awarding some raises above the three percent mark. During the meeting, District Attorney Peggy Supak spoke about the challenges she has faced in trying to fill an open assistant attorney position in her office.

“You talk to attorneys around town and get down to the salary, and they laugh at you,” Supak said. “It’s very difficult to find someone with what we’re offering especially someone with a family.”

According to Supak’s budget request, assistant attorneys in her office currently earn between $66,000 and $79,000 annually. She proposed raising those salaries to between $70,000 and $83,000 a year. Supak said attorneys with experience can earn much more in private practice.

Pinching Pennies

Supak’s only other request was for $2,000 to purchase six new filing cabinets. She said her office has run out of filing cabinet space and now must work out of boxes. Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom offered her some filing cabinets that the County inherited from the old Pioneer Bank Building. Supak agreed to scratch her request if the used cabinets work out.

Program Assistance

Perhaps the toughest discussion centered about the requests for program assistance from agencies such as Combined Community Action, the Child Welfare Board and the Gardenie E. Jannsen Animal Shelter. Last year, the County contributed a total of $167,900 to 14 such agencies. This year, the requests totaled $208,835. That number included a $20,000 from Fayette County Habitat for Humanity, an organization that the County has never funded before.

The County contributes the most to the Animal Shelter. This year they requested an increase of more than $9,400, from $62,900 to $72,335 annually.

“I want to support it,” Weber said of the Animal Shelter. “But what I don’t want is other entities throughout the County to say, ‘Well, we’re going to cut back on what we’re giving because The County is going to pick up the slack.’ I think they need to help us out, too.”

Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff said the City of Flatonia does not send many animals to the shelter. He questioned the value of the County’s contribution to taxpayers in his precinct.

Berckenhoff Questions Spending

Throughout the meeting. Berckenhoff positioned himself as spending critic. He questioned many requests, especially those for raises above three percent.

At one point, Weber spoke in favor of a pay raise for the Emergency Management Chief and referenced the unusual past year that included the COVID pandemic, flooding and a historic freeze.

“That’s what his job is – just because there’s an emergency doesn’t mean he deserves more money,” Berckenhoff said. “That’s what he signed up for. That’s his job.”

Berckenhoff said he didn’t think it was fair for the Sheriff’s Office to get bigger raises than road and bridge employees.

“But they’re different, I guess, that’s what everyone says,” he said. “Since I’ve been here in 2015, road and bridge (departments) have never asked for an increase in salary. We ask for whatever the court gives. Other departments ask for more.

“Our guys are out there when it’s hot,” he said. “Some of our equipment doesn’t have air conditioning. We’re out there in extreme conditions, too, sometimes.”

At another point in the meeting, Weber asked Berckenhoff, “Don’t you buy your kids anything for Christmas?”

At the end of the meeting, Bercknehoff spoke about his position on the raises:

“When we look at this (salary survey), compared to the other counties we don’t have to be number one, but we don’t have to be at the bottom,” he said. “But also, Fayette County has the lowest tax rate of most of the other counties around here. They’re charging more taxes, so they can pay a little more.”

“I will go on the record right now to say it’s not my intent to raise the tax rate,” Weber said.

Commissioners didn’t make any final decisions on the requests at Thursday’s meeting. The County is waiting for certified values from the Fayette County Appraisal District, which will determine expected revenue for next year. Weber said Commissioners will decide which requests, if any, to cut once that number is determined.