The Travis County Medical Examiner's Office asked Commissioners Court on Aug. 14 to adopt market-based salary adjustments or, if the countywide market study is not adopted this year, to earmark roughly $400,000 to $450,000 to raise staff pay to competitive levels.
The request is meant to address recruitment and retention across roughly 59 positions including physicians, autopsy technicians, medical-legal death investigators and toxicology staff, the office said.
Staff member (Medical Examiner's Office) told the court that the office had reached consensus with the county Planning and Budget Office on most budget items but remained behind the market for pay. "We believe that this would cost approximately 400 to 450,000," the speaker said, adding the office prefers adoption of a market study so staff can be placed into appropriate ranges.
Alex Braden, assistant budget director in Planning and Budget, said the preliminary FY 2026 recommended budget for the medical examiner's office is $11,335,194, up 2 percent from FY 2025, and noted that the larger $1.6 million figure in the backup was an earlier request that the office has since reduced. Braden said the recommended prelim budget includes two new positions: a family-assistant specialist and an administrative associate for pathologists.
HRMD's chief human resources officer, Dr. Junmaiti, and Stacy McClure, assistant director of total rewards, said HR is aligned on the market mapping work and is still finalizing exact costing. McClure said the office and HR had created an autopsy technician III series and had mapped other medical-examiner positions into the county's MSS plan.
Judge Andy Brown and several commissioners praised the office's recent emergency response work during floods and a mass fatality incident, and Commissioners asked that the final costing be presented at the countywide compensation meeting scheduled for Aug. 26 so the court can consider it during the compensation mark-up process.
If the court does not adopt the countywide market study, the medical examiner requested that the court consider funding the compensation changes for the office during budget mark-up. There was no formal motion or vote on Aug. 14; Planning and Budget said it will put a placeholder on the budget agenda worksheet showing the department's estimate ahead of the Aug. 26 compensation session.
Why this matters: Medical examiner offices provide legally required death investigations and disturbance-response services: the office said consistent pay is a key tool to retain a specialized workforce that the county relies on in emergencies.