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State salary benchmark shifts county and judicial pay; court reallocates funds pending interpretation
Summary
Brazos County budget staff told Commissioners Court that a new state benchmark (referred to in the meeting as Senate Bill 2 93) changes how the county may pay some elected prosecutors and judges; county staff presented salary reductions, reallocations to operational accounts, and pending monitoring of statewide interpretations.
Nina Payne, staff member, told the Brazos County Commissioners Court at a July budget workshop that state law will affect local pay for some elected legal officials and that the county is taking a conservative interpretation while monitoring how other counties respond. "This is the county's portion... it's going from 18,000 to 25,000," Payne said when describing the statutory benchmark and its effect on supplements the county pays to judges and prosecutors. Payne said the court must publish proposed elected-official salaries in a newspaper and allow a grievance period before final adoption.
The county attorney's salary line was presented as decreasing under the benchmark. Payne said the reduction in base salary would be redirected to the office's operational expenses rather than eliminated from the department. "Even though there is a decrease to his salary of $27,324, that money was redirected to his operational expenses to better fit his needs in his office," Payne said, describing the accounting change driven by the benchmark. Payne said the county met with "Earl" and chose a conservative interpretation so the county would not risk overpayment and potential repayment to the state.
Judge Hilbert described the same state benchmark process as it applies to district judges and urged approval of the county portion the state now allows. "We haven't had any pay raise from the state or the county due to statute, since February, 2013," Hilbert said, explaining why the new benchmark helps judges keep pace with cost-of-living adjustments other county employees have received. Payne and court members said the benchmark becomes effective Sept. 1 and will increase some county supplements (for example, district judges' county supplement was presented as moving toward the newly allowed level).
Court members said interpretations vary across the state. Payne said county legal staff took a conservative approach in reallocating salary dollars to avoid overpayment, and she asked commissioners to approve the preliminary budget posture while staff continues to track legal opinions and other counties' approaches. There was no formal vote on statewide interpretation at the workshop; Payne said the county will "follow this and watch the different findings and opinions across the state."
