Court approves one bilingual pay transfer, defers county clerk's request pending usage data

The McLennan County Commissioners Court acted on two human-resources requests related to bilingual pay. The court approved one request from Pretrial Services to transfer bilingual pay to an employee moving into that department and deferred a county clerk request to add two additional bilingual-pay positions pending more information on usage and demand. Stacy from Human Resources explained that bilingual testing costs $60 per test and that bilingual pay is tiered: $20, $30 or $40 per pay period depending on the test score. HR confirmed both requests met policy requirements and that sufficient budget exists for the positions. The county judge and other commissioners asked staff to collect usage metrics showing how frequently bilingual services are used in customer-facing offices before approving the clerk's request; staff agreed to request that information from the departments and return the item to a future meeting. The court approved the Pretrial Services bilingual-pay transfer by motion and voice vote and voted to defer the county clerk request to allow HR and the clerk's office to provide statistics on frequency of use and coverage needs.