State Grant to Bump Up Rural Officer Pay
The Fayette County Commissioners Court met last Thursday and signed a grant agreement with the Texas Comptroller’s Office for the Rural Law Enforcement Salary Assistance Program.
The Texas Legislature implemented this grant program with Senate Bill 22. The program aims to increase salaries for law enforcement officers at rural sheriff’s offices and constable departments. The bill provides grant funding for paying officer salaries. Agencies that receive grant funds must raise the minimum salary for officers to the following levels:
• $75,000 for the county sheriff;
• $45,000 for each deputy sheriff who performs vehicle stops as part of their routine duties;
• $40,000 for each jailer; and
• $45,000 to each constable who performs vehicle stops as part of their routine duties (he County must pay at least 75 percent of the money required to meet the minimum constable salary).
Commissioners anticipated funding from SB22 when they set the 2024 County Budget last year. The budget includes salary funding to meet those minimum amounts.
Grant funds may also be used to purchase vehicles, firearms and safety equipment for the sheriff’s office. Moreover, the grant provides funding to increase the salary of assistant prosecuting attorneys, investigators or a victim assistance coordinator, and to hire additional staff for the prosecution office. Grant funds may not be used to pay overtime or compensatory time to officers. County taxpayers will be on the hook for those costs. In addition, the grant terms stipulate that the salaries may never be decreased, even if the funding goes away at some point.
“We cannot retract those salaries once they are given,” said Fayette County Emergency Management Coordinator Angela Hahn. “That would be considered defunding the police.”
Terms of the grant also stipulate that the Sheriff may use the grant funds without seeking approval from Commissioners Court. In all other areas of County government, the Commissioners Court holds the final authority over spending decisions.
“We’re going to make sure all the i’s are dotted and the t’s crossed, to make sure nothing inappropriate is being done, of course,” said County Judge Dan Mueller.
Hahn said all spending from the grant funds must be reported to the State Comptroller’s Office, and she will make those reports available to the Commissioners Court.
“From now on, as long as this money is here, the Sheriff can do what he wants with this money,” said Pct. 3 Commissioners Harvey Berckenhoff. “It’s not our say-so, it’s his. So every year he can give a raise. Every year, every year. And then two or four years down the road, if the money is not there anymore, whatever the salaries are, the taxpayers will be stuck with it … This is not guaranteed, right?” “The Lt. Governor has promised that these funds will be here in perpetuity,” Hahn said. “But that being said, he’s a politician, and these are grant funds.”
Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom said the future of the grant program will depend on the decisions made in future legislative sessions.
“The legislators are the ones who created this, and they can change,” he said.
Mueller said he believes the state will continue the grant program in perpetuity.
“To go against this would give the impression of defunding police,” Mueller said.
Berckenhoff raised a concern about future impacts to the County budget: “(The Legislature) could one day say, ‘We need this money for education,’ or ‘We need it for securing the border, and we’re going to have to take this money we gave you in SB 22 for two years, and after that we don’t have anymore to give you.’ Then we’re going to be hung with the rest of it, right?
“Just so we’re aware, if this does go away, the taxpayers are going to have to keep funding it,” he added. “As long as everyone understands that.”
Mueller said that if the State ever defunded the grant program, he would work with the Sheriff, Hahn and the County Auditor’s Office to make up the necessary funding. If such a scenario took place, Hahn said she may be able to find grant funds to pay for equipment, thereby freeing up local taxpayer dollars for the salaries. Sheriff Keith Korenek said his office could use money in their forfeiture fund to pay for salaries if the grant ever went away. The forfeiture funds come from money and the proceeds of property seized during criminal investigations.
“So the Sheriff can obligate future Commissioners Courts to whatever funding he picks up right now?” Plum resident William Bernsen Bernsen asked.
“Yeah, he can under the law,” Hahn said.
“Those are some good legislators,” Sheriff Korenek said.
Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann made the motion to approve the grant agreement. Pct. 2 Commissioner Luke Sternadel seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.