A public hearing at the Brown County Commissioners Court to consider proposal to increase total tax revenues for FY 2011-2012 from properties on 2011 tax roll was called to order at 9:10am on Wednesday, August 31st, with all commissioners and the county judge present; however no members of the public were in attendance. There being no public comments, the public hearing was closed after a short time.
Brown County Sheriff’s Office came before the court after the public hearing to request a salary increase for its officers, 27 full time and 2 part time employees. BCSO Captain Tony Aaron explained to commissioners that the raise proposed would be $100/month for full time and $50/month for part time commissioned BCSO employees (in addition to a proposed 3% raise for all county employees). This pay raise would not affect the BCSO budget according to Aaron who stated that the department has recently received approval for equipment purchases of $35,000 that they are willing to postpone in order to give officers this raise. With these purchases eliminated, the operating fund of the BCSO budget would be used to increase these salaries. A $60,000 Homeland Security grant may be awarded to Brown County which could fund the purchase of the equipment, radios to be installed in the patrol units, according to Emergency Management Director Brent Bush. According to Aaron, there will be 10 radios replaced this year with 15-20 more needed before 2015 when the department will be required to have digital radios.
“With diligence and a microscope on our budget every year, we can do this and still have a good amount to be able to shift within our budget,” stated Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs.
Currently base pay for a patrol deputy is $31,060 according to Chief Deputy Bobby Duvall. With this pay increase, the amount would be $32,261 as proposed, which is still the least paying law enforcement agency in the county out of the four agencies of Bangs Police Department, Brownwood Police Department and Early Police Department. Duvall reported that these other three departments have starting base pay which range from $36,000-$40,000 per year for patrol officers. Because of this difference in pay, BCSO has reported losses of their officers to other local agencies and that two current deputies have applied for positions with other agencies, including one that is out of state.
Aaron told the court that their jailer positions were not included in pay because historically there are always plenty applicants to fill jailer positions as compared to the commissioned position of a patrol deputy, which BCSO has experienced the opposite effect. Recent layoffs at Texas Youth Commission have also increased numbers of applicants for jailer positions.
“If we compare Brown County (deputies’ salaries) to other counties, Brown County is still considerably low,” stated Aaron.
Commissioner Steve Adams of Precinct 1 stated that in addition to the salaries, Brown County does provide an excellent benefit package for county employees which helps add value to the lower salaries.
“Everybody employed with the county is important,” stated Judge Ray West. “There will be some gnashing of teeth within the county, complaining about raising the base pay for one department and not increasing the base pay for clerks, court administrators, etc.” He explained BCSO receives raises more often than other departments which typically have a harder time getting raises. Much of this West contributed to the broad and larger amount of their budget which allows for conservation in one area to expand others such as payroll.
Ann Krpoun, County Treasurer approached commissioners and asked if she could raise her employee’s salary by $100/month if she was able to cut back on pens and papers or eliminate an unnecessary second phone line in her office to make up for the increased expense.
County Auditor Nina Cox cautioned the court regarding any pay raises, “Raising salaries is a forever thing.”
West cautioned as well stating, “These grant funds aren’t always there, so we may find troubles in meeting their budget in the future,”
County Clerk Sharon Ferguson also mentioned that she could do the same with the recent loss of one higher paid employee; however without extra money in her office’s small budget, future years of this pay increase, she would not be able to fund six employee raises.
Commissioners ultimately agreed to include the requested Sheriff’s office pay raised in the proposed budget and issue public notices regarding county raises.
The next regular meeting of the commissioners’ court will be September 6, 2011; the 2nd public hearing regarding the proposed tax rate. Another meeting will be held the week of September 20th for the final approval of the budget and public hearing of the tax rate.
