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Hunt County commissioners set 3% starting point for employee raises; order budget modeling and policy review
Summary
During a July 11 special session, Hunt County commissioners agreed to use a 3% across-the-board raise as a starting point for FY2025-26 budget modeling, directed staff to prepare comparative scenarios and asked staff and department heads to develop clearer personnel and salary-adjustment policies before final adoption.
HUNT COUNTY, Texas ' Commissioners in a July 11 special session directed county staff to model a 3 percent across-the-board pay increase as a starting point for FY2025-26 budget work and to return with updated numbers for the court.
The court's discussion focused on how to handle midyear salary changes, unused salary authority in department budgets and the mechanics for targeted merit or retention pay. County Auditor Mary and other staff said leftover salary dollars cannot simply remain hidden inside department budgets and that any carryover must be shown in the county's financial records.
Commissioners debated options for handling midyear adjustments: keep authority at department level, create a central pool for promotions and retention, or zero out unspent salary lines so the court clearly controls reallocation. Several commissioners supported zeroing out unspent salary authority as a routine practice unless an approved exception exists.
On process, commissioners asked staff to provide a master spreadsheet that will allow the court to view the budget with alternative raise scenarios (for example, 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent). The court also agreed to schedule a follow-up meeting to finalize the budget work; staff set a special session for Friday at 9 a.m. to continue budget deliberations.
Why it matters: the raise baseline affects salary costs countywide and will shape department hiring and retention decisions. Commissioners emphasized performance-based adjustments as preferable to ad hoc midyear increases but did not set firm merit criteria at the July 11 meeting.
What was decided: the court directed staff to model a 3 percent increase across the board as a starting point, to prepare alternative scenarios, and to identify options for how unspent salary authority should be reflected in the county's financial statements. No pay increases were approved on July 11.
Ending: Staff and auditors will present modeled scenarios and proposed personnel-policy language for the court to consider at the next scheduled special session; the court left open targeted retention or promotion adjustments pending further rules and available funding.
