Sheriff’s Department Poised for Big Raises

Fayette County is set to receive more than a half million dollars through a new state grant program for rural law enforcement. The money will be used to increase salaries for the Sheriff’s Office, Constables and criminal prosecutors in the County Attorney’s office.

Senate Bill 22 established a $330 million fund to be dispersed over two years. It was aimed at boosting salaries for law enforcement in the rural parts of Texas. Only counties with populations under 300,000 were eligible for the grant. The Texas Comptroller’s Office, which administers the grant program, said 224 eligible Sheriff’s Offices applied for funding. According to the Comptroller’s Office, $126 million will be dispersed this year with the remainder allocated for next year.

“As I traveled through rural Texas last year, I was shocked to learn how little some of our elected sheriffs and their deputies were earning,” said Lt. Governor Dan Patrick following the passage of SB 22 last year.

“There are elected sheriffs in Texas earning just over $30,000 per year and their deputies earning less than that,” Patrick said. “It is difficult to find men and women to take these dangerous jobs at these pay levels. That is why I named SB 22 a priority this session.”

The elected sheriff and deputies in Fayette County already made a lot more than those referenced by Patrick. Thanks to SB 22, they’ll get even more. The text of SB 22 stipulates that in order to receive funding, Counties must raise salaries to certain minimum levels: $75,000 for the Sheriff, $45,000 for deputies and $40,000 for jailers. Fayette County already meets these thresholds.

Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek’s budget proposal for the SB 22 grant included a $15,000 raise for himself. His salary will be $95,172 annually with the SB 22 grant. That includes a seven percent raise that Commissioners approved for all law enforcement personnel last year. Without the grant, his salary would have been $80,163.

The highest ranking members of the Sheriff’s Office are set to receive increases ranging from $10,000 to $12,500 annually, raising their pay to between $81,600 to $82,600. Sergeants and investigators will get increases ranging from about $4,800 to a little over $9,000, raising their salaries to the low to mid-$70,000 range.

Full-time deputies are set to receive increases ranging from about $1,400 to just under $2,900. The salary for the lowest-paid law enforcement position at the Sheriff’s Office, which is currently open, will go from $57,099.39 to $58,587.50.

Jailers will receive increases from a little over $4,000 to $7,685. The lowest-paid jailers will see a raise from $47,083 to $50,850.

The Fayette County Attorney’s Office applied for $175,000 in grant funds through SB 22. Rural prosecutors across the state have longstruggled to hire attorneys who can make so much more in private practice. Fayette County is no exception. The two assistant county attorneys both currently earn less than $100,000 annually. At Monday’s meeting, assistant county attorney Blake Watson said the office has been unable to fill an open position due to the low pay.

County Attorney Peggy Supak submitted a budget proposal to increase the salaries of her assistant attorneys and her office’s victim assistance coordinator. The three budgeted assistant attorney positions would pay between $117,000 and $131,000 thanks to the SB 22 funds.

SB 22 also provides funding for rural constables who routinely perform traffic enforcement. Two of Fayette County’s four constables currently perform traffic enforcement, and they also applied for funding. Pct. 1 Constable Billy Roensch and Pct. 2 Constable Roger Wunderlich will both receive a $4,694 bump in pay, bringing their salaries to $48,600 annually. Watson said Pct. 3 Constable Robert Chambers recently began enforcing traffic, and he will qualify for funding next year.

The law says counties may use the grant funds to purchase equipment as long as all officers make the minimum salary amounts. Pct 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom and Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff advocated for using at least some of the grant funds for equipment. At Monday’s meeting, Sheriff Korenek brought up the $250,000 donation from local businessman Steve Hillhouse to the Sheriff’s Office.

Korenek said, “Mr. Hillhouse, when he gave the County $250,000, he said he wanted to do that so our officers could get raises. If not, he wanted that $250,000 back, if I remember correctly.”

Hillhouse wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in the Sept. 22, 2023 issue of the Record in which he explained this condition of his donation: Hillhouse wrote: “… my gift to the county was specifically to offset most of the County budget allocated for purchase of needed equipment for the first responders to free up funds to increase the salaries to at least the minimum paid by our neighboring Counties (approximately 10% increase) until the $350,000 State grant provided by SB 22 is received by the County in January. In fact, a condition of my gift was to raise the salaries of our first responders, or I wanted my money back.”

According to the budget proposals discussed at a special Commissioners Court meeting on Monday, the Sheriff’s Office, County Attorney’s Office and Constables will opt to spend all of their grant funds on salary increases.

Once approved, the salary increases for this year will be disbursed over an eight-month period. Next year, the increases will be disbursed over a 12-month period. This will result in those employees receiving smaller paychecks next year. Sheriff Korenek said his staff is aware of that. Watson advised the County to include a letter explaining this with each paycheck to the affected employees.

Commissioners were scheduled to meet again this Thursday to finalize disbursement of the SB 22 funds.