Harris County committee recommends $260,000 salary for district clerk after grievance hearing

A Harris County salary grievance committee voted 6-3 on Sept. 16 to recommend that the county set District Clerk Marilyn Burgess’s annual salary at $260,000, advancing the recommendation to Commissioners Court.

Burgess, who said her current salary is $179,420.80, filed a grievance asking that her pay be increased to $295,000 and argued the request was aimed at reducing pay disparity between elected county officials and appointed department heads. “I implore you to try to bring some parity between elected official salaries and appointed department head salaries,” Burgess told the committee, describing the scope of her office’s work and staffing.

The committee hearing focused on two competing considerations: Burgess’s contention that the district clerk’s duties and the size of her operation warrant parity with certain appointed department heads, and the county budget office’s assessment that a $295,000 salary would be disproportionate given internal and statewide comparisons and current county budget constraints.

At the hearing Burgess described her office’s scope: she said the district clerk’s office supports more than 100 courts (83 statutory courts plus over 30 specialty courts), employs roughly 600 people, manages a $66 million office budget, processes about 5.8 million documents in 2024 and maintains a court registry of more than 12,000 accounts valued at over $130 million. She said those figures informed her request and her comparison with other jurisdictions.

David Ramos, executive director of Harris County’s budget office, recommended against the $295,000 figure, saying it would nearly double Burgess’s current pay and would exceed the salaries of comparable elected officials. Ramos told the committee the county is addressing sizable budget pressures — including a roughly $200 million deficit this year — and that commissioners had recently approved large raises for some law-enforcement positions and justices of the peace that contributed to changes in the grievances filed.

Committee members debated whether to approve Burgess’s full request, to adopt a lower number tied to parity with specific elected offices, or to wait for the results of an ongoing countywide salary study. The committee considered a motion to set the district clerk’s salary at $217,000 (motion failed) and a subsequent motion, made by Burgess and seconded by John Murphy, to set the salary at $260,000 (motion passed). The roll-call vote on the $260,000 recommendation recorded six ayes and three nays; under the statutory process the committee’s 6–3 recommendation will be forwarded to Commissioners Court for possible inclusion in the county budget.

Committee members and public commenters also raised concerns about longer-term pay parity across elected and appointed positions and about whether merit or cost-of-living adjustments have adequately reached employees in the district clerk’s office. Burgess emphasized that her office had largely received cost-of-living adjustments rather than merit-based raises and said staff recruitment and retention were ongoing challenges.

The committee followed the Texas Open Meetings Act and the procedural rules it adopted at the start of the meeting. Because the committee’s recommendation was not unanimous, it does not automatically change the budget; Commissioners Court will review the recommendation in its salary-setting process and any adoption would need to comply with the statutory notice and budget-adoption timelines.

The committee adjourned after signing the required forms; its recommendation will be included for consideration when Commissioners Court finalizes salary notices and the fiscal-year budget.