County Commission Votes to Give Themselves a Pay Raise Then Hikes Tax Rate

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — Tom Green County Commissioners voted Tuesday for a pay raise for elected officials including themselves beginning in October which triggers a possible salary grievance hearing if any elected official disputes his or her proposed salary. 

The court also voted for a tax rate increase for the 2020 Fiscal Year requiring two public hearings. 

During recent budget hearings commissioners had agreed to a five percent raise in base pay for the 28 elected officials and a ten percent raise for county employees.  

County Judge Steve Floyd said during the meeting that the ten percent raise for employees will be five percent starting in October and then another five percent in January after the completion of a salary study.  

Floyd said the employee salary increase is necessary because the county has seen a 34-percent turnover in employees in the last year because of low pay.  

The turnover rate doesn't include jailers after the Eden Detention Center reopened this spring. 

The new Tom Green County Jail is scheduled to open in January and Floyd said the county will have to operate both the old jail and the new jail for a couple of months.  The new jail will have 557 beds and could be expanded in the future where the current jail has 446 beds.  

Operating the new jail will require an additional 14 jailers which the court has in the FY 2020 budget.  Pct. 1 Commissioner Ralph Hoelscher said the county is having a difficult time hiring new employees to work in the jail in part because of the salary range.  

Pct. 4 Commissioner Bill Ford became visibly upset when Hoelscher made a motion to increase the elected officials by 3.5 percent.  Ford said they had agreed at a previous budget hearing to raise elected officials' salaries by five percent.  The difference will only be $19,300 total per year for all elected officials in the $55 million budget.  

The court had to vote for a proposed tax rate of .55182 per $100 in property value.  The current rate is .5450 per $100 in property value. 

The court set two public hearings on the proposed tax rate; Tuesday Aug. 13 at 9 a.m. and Thursday Aug. 22 at 6:30 p.m. both public hearings on the tax rate will be held in the Commissioners Court meeting room on the second floor of the Keyes building at 113 W. Beauregard.  

Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily

The LIVE! Daily is the "newspaper to your email" for San Angelo. Each content-packed edition has weather, the popular Top of the Email opinion and rumor mill column, news around the state of Texas, news around west Texas, the latest news stories from San Angelo LIVE!, events, and the most recent obituaries. The bottom of the email contains the most recent rants and comments. The LIVE! daily is emailed 5 days per week. On Sundays, subscribers receive the West Texas Real Estate LIVE! email.

Required

Most Recent Videos

Comments

Government employees get to decide what we do with our money. You should all be fired in my opinion, you've failed your public horrendously.

If the raise is not enough....go back and sell cars. The county don't need you or the rest of the commissioners. The state constitution needs to change, we need a county manager and commissioners that are paid like the city councilmen. The sad part is, no matter what they do they are unopposed.

County employees are obviously underpaid and unappreciated, but the poor citizenry is definitely overtaxed. What a crappy place to live.

I understand the need to raises because San Angelo is behind the times in pay including nurses. That being said I am a nurse and have been for 34 years. I have NEVER received a 5% raise much less a 10% raise. So don't think I have this great insurance as we are not offered any insurance. I am a LVN not an RN. Even RN's in San Angelo don't make the big bucks like they do in big cities unless they are contracted by a company. So far all the ones with the 10% raise I know you deserve it and maybe other places in San Angelo should follow right a long .

Elected Officials don't need the raises. For instance the County Clerk makes $75,000 a year to go in when she feels like it and brings her grandchildren to the office for her employees to babysit while trying to do their jobs. Her employees make just over $20,000. Now you tell me who needs the raise. You really need to stop and look at the annual salaries of all County Employees, included Elected Officials and you will see that the employees are who deserve the raises. They are the ones that keep the offices running while the elected officials are off playing at conventions or taking vacations.
It would really be nice if the Commissioners Court will do the right thing for once and put the raises where they need to go. Granted it would be a first because the County Clerk has gotten her wrists slapped for things that you or I would go to jail for but instead they hide it from the tax payers.

that the second 5% raise due in January for non-elected employees never materializes..... The 'study' will most likely be slanted to indicate a budgetary shortfall. Municipal and county promises to employees rarely materialize. At least they got the first 5%.
I am surprised at the lack of outrage over the tax hike........

Update.... Oddly, when I posted the above earlier today, there were no comments published on this article. Now I see the multiple posts from as early as yesterday afternoon expressing the outrage I was missing.

I don't know what ol demonrat joe and his liberal staff are scared of.
I'm on several major national forums and boards and this site is the only one that is heavily moderated and censured by anyone that walks by the PC that is running comments.
They read and decide if the comment suits them in no certain order. Hence replies and such are never in order.
You or the person that you reply to are never able to figure out what is going on or who is talking to who.
You post late Friday and unless the cleaning people or a staff member actually comes in on Saturday then the first one in on Monday censors and releases what pleases them and it is a big jumble of junk that is in no order.
I've met joe and was impressed with him but I am about done with it.
Turn the comments loose and let them flow.
Are you skeered of the big city officials?
I click on all of your ads and answer all of the questions in an effort to support you.
I have brought this up before to no response.
Let's hear from you on here.

Unbelievable. Only a fool would not see what was sold to them. Tax cuts for weathly people and corporations leave a void that will have to be filled by......you guessed it, everyone else. That means local taxes go up to pay for jails, roads, schools as well as county AND municipal government. Abbot and the rest of the right wing royalty sold you ocean front property outside of Grape Creek. Don't whine, pay up.

And for the smart one that thinks anything about San Angelo Live is left leaning, my advice....get out more.

Post a comment to this article here:

X Close