Rockwall County constables say spike in evictions has doubled workload; ask court for clerks, shared deputies and technology funding

Constable Trey Chaney told the Rockwall County Commissioners Court on June 13 that his precinct’s civil workload has climbed sharply since precinct lines were redrawn and is straining his office.

"If you look on 1 of the documents towards the back, you can see in '21 I did 54 evictions. Last year I did 175. This morning I'm sitting on 86, so that probably puts me at about 100 by the July 1 and then that makes it 200 by the end of the year," Chaney said, adding that the increase multiplies court work, "you increase writ of possessions, which take 2 to 4 hours at a time, and you increase trips."

The constables sought three kinds of budget relief: (1) staff to handle paperwork and payments, (2) an option for a shared deputy to cover field and court duties, and (3) modest technology subscriptions to reduce time spent with dispatch and manual checks.

Why it matters

An increase in evictions translates to longer court dockets, more service trips, more time on writs of possession and more safety exposure for constables and deputies. The constables said that paperwork and repeat visits are the main drivers of their workload and that some new state rules will further compress processing time.

What constables…