Commissioner's Court approves higher starting salary for county receptionist and raises court coordinator pay grade

Henderson County's Commissioner's Court approved two personnel actions: a starting salary of $39,403 (Step 4) for a new full-time receptionist in the County Attorney's Office and a pay-grade increase for a single court enforcement/caseworker/intake position from pay grade 160 to 200 effective Sept. 1, 2025. County staff explained the receptionist, Sabrina, had worked part time for six months while the prior employee, Diane Marsh, was still in post. County Attorney's Office staff asked the court to bring Sabrina in at Step 4 based on her prior management experience running a salon and six months of on-the-job training; the court approved the request on a motion and recorded a unanimous vote. "In the 6 months she's been here, she's been exceptional," County Attorney's Office staff said in support of the higher starting step. Separately, the court approved moving a single position that handles court enforcement duties, intake coordination and open-records requests from pay grade 160 to pay grade 200, effective Sept. 1, 2025. County staff said funding for the partial-year increase can be covered from existing part-time funds and that the 2026 budget already included the higher pay grade; staff also said a budget amendment would be prepared to formalize the change. On the motions, the court voted unanimously to approve both the starting salary and the pay grade change. County staff noted the pay-grade motion required later budget-amendment paperwork to align fiscal-year accounts.