Sheriff Asks for Big Raises Amid Rising Inflation

SAN ANGELO, TX — Tom Green County Sheriff Nick Hanna asked the County Commissioners for a 10 percent across-the-board pay raise for his deputies and jailers at this morning’s county budget workshop. He did so in an environment of rapidly-rising property values and constituent concerns about what each property owner’s final property tax bill will be in January 2024. The county relies on property taxes and sales taxes for most of its revenue, and the Sheriff’s Office is seeking $10,328,010 in base salaries — a $940,727 increase over the current FY 2023 budget.

Overall, Hanna said the combined Sheriff and Jail budgets will be $19,327,545, or slightly less than a third of the approximate $60 million overall county budget.

Prefacing his presentation with statistics about inflation increasing costs, Hanna was careful to detail the Sheriff's budget, line item by line item, where he was not requesting an increase. At no time did he relent to a decrease in a budget line item.

Three areas other than payroll will need significant increases. First, the Sheriff is in need of several new patrol vehicles. He said the 2024 Chevrolet Tahoe police model offered his department the most value. Those Tahoes will cost between $50,000 and $72,485 each. The more expensive Tahoes are for patrol deputies. Second, software, training and supplies will see a moderate increase. Hanna said the cost of ammunition was a concern. Finally, the jail food operations will need a 10 percent increase.

The crisis Hanna sought to avert with a bigger budget given to him last year seemed to quell many of his concerns. The Jail, however, continued to be in focus. Despite a bandaid on jailer salaries in mid-year this fiscal year, the wage increase was not enough to bring Tom Green County’s jailer wages on par with competitive jail facilities. The average wage for a Tom Green County jailer is $40,000. Taylor County (Abilene) pays $45,000; Potter County (Amarillo) pays $48,067 annually; and Ector County (Odessa) pays the most at $48,318. Hanna requested a budget that will increase jailer wages $4,000 per annum, up to $44,000.

While still less than comparable counties, Hanna stressed the higher wages will help. Low staffing makes our jailers feel less safe in the open jail environment as does response time for backup should something happen at the jail. The detention facility is located on the far northeast corner of the county. Hanna said he can address those two issues and gain better retention for the next fiscal year even with wages still slightly lower than Abilene’s.

This month, the jail staffing is short 36 total positions. That is 111 employees for 150 positions. Despite this, Major Todd Allen, the head of the jail, said that the jail is still able to maintain its state-mandated staffing even with the shortage. Between FY 2021 and 2022, the county hired 79 jailers while 84 resigned. The bleeding slowed in 2023 with the interim raises. Hanna said that so far in FY2023, the county hired 32 while 24 have resigned. It costs $6,780.53 to train each new jail officer, the sheriff said. The county has lost $732,297.24 training jailers who resigned.

Hanna is also seeking raised for patrol deputies. He noted that the $45,110.26 average pay for a deputy is eclipsed by the San Angelo Police Department’s average wage of $52,142. Tom Green County deputy pay is also lower than Taylor County’s $49,000 and Pecos County’s $57,595.

The commissioners listened intently but had few questions a the end. Commissioner Sammy Farmer, Precinct 2, told Sheriff Hanna that he was pleased with the professionalism of the sheriff’s office.

Speaking directly to Hanna, Farmer said, “Having a Texas Ranger background brings credibility and professionalism to the office. I appreciate you and what you bring to the table.”
 The protests at the county appraisal office are still ongoing and commissioners have no final answer as to how much revenue the mostly increased appraisals will bring. The county tax rate for FY 2023 is set at 0.0050579 and the rate costs a taxpayer who owns a $300,000 home $1,517.37 annually.

FY 2023’s tax rate is effectively a tax increase of 3.7 cents over last year’s no-new revenue rate of 0.46887. The City of San Angelo and the San Angelo ISD are also in budget workshops this summer facing similar challenges.

The school district tax rate will mostly be determined with the results of the special session of the Texas Legislature on property tax rates. The battle in the legislature is between those advocating for a large homestead exemption that will benefit homeowners versus those arguing for an across-the-board cut that will also benefit commercial properties — and tenants of rental properties. The Democrats in Austin are also advocating for granting renters a cash refund equaling up to 10% of the rent they paid the previous year.

This is County Judge Lane Carter’s first year chairing the county budget. All are watching how he balances county salaries against the tax rate increase in waters disturbed by the average 19-35 percent increase in property valuations this year. It may not be that tough of position to be. County employees are a 600-vote constituency across 30 departments. Property taxpayers, however, aren’t organized that well.