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Brazos County 911 district requests pay raises, AI tools in FY26 budget pitch to commissioners
Summary
Brazos County Emergency Communications District 911 told the Commissioners Court it needs a roughly $755,000 (5.3%) increase in its FY26 budget, mainly to raise dispatcher pay and cover rising benefits costs while piloting AI tools for call triage, quality assurance and transcription.
The Brazos County Emergency Communications District 911 asked the Commissioners Court for a roughly $755,000 increase to its proposed FY26 budget, saying most of the raise would go to higher dispatcher wages and benefits.
The request, presented by Laura Blackburn of the Brazos County 911 District, seeks a 5.3% increase over last year. "The vast majority of that, 94 percent of it, is to improve wages and benefits for the dispatchers," Blackburn said. She told the court that the district plans to raise starting pay from $20 an hour to $22 an hour to "remain competitive, and hire and retain, good employees." Blackburn also said the district has incorporated a 5% estimate for rising health insurance premiums.
Blackburn said the district employs 47 people, with 40 funded through contracts with the county and the City of Bryan, and that the agency's turnover runs about 20% annually. She also said the required retirement contribution rate fell slightly from 12.59% to 12.31% for the coming year. "97% of the money you provide to us goes to pay for wages and benefits," she added, pointing to a budget summary handed to the court that also compares Bryan and county funding streams and 9-1-1 service fees.
Beyond pay and benefits, Blackburn described proposed technology pilots that would use artificial intelligence for quality assurance, automated triage of non-emergency calls, and language translation and call transcription. "We're looking to implement a quality assurance program that uses artificial intelligence, and also a triage program to answer non emergency calls for us and help process some of those more efficiently," she said.
Commissioners asked about staffing and retention; Blackburn said recent losses were mostly to other employers or residents moving away rather than retirements. No formal action or vote was taken during the presentations; the item was a budget request and discussion.
The court did not decide funding at the workshop; the presentation will be considered as staff and the court prepare the FY26 recommended budget.
