Cochise supervisors: constable pay must wait until next election cycle; staff to include salary in FY2027 budget

The Cochise County Board of Supervisors heard March 25 that county rules and the Arizona Constitution prevent an immediate pay increase for elected constables, leaving Benson Constable John Drummond effectively paid $1 per month until any new salary can take effect in January 2027.

County staff briefed the board on how constable pay is set and why Benson and Wilcox constables have received minimal pay since taking office in January 2023. Deputy County Attorney Dylan Hendel told the board that, under the Arizona Constitution and the county’s reading of state statute, an elected official cannot receive a midterm salary change and any adjustment would not take effect until the January following the next general election. “According to the Arizona Constitution, an elected official cannot receive a salary change mid term. It can only go into effect at the start of their midterm,” Hendel said.

That legal constraint leaves constable pay tied to a two-part statutory formula staff described to the board: first, average documents served over four years (tiered at under or over 100 documents per year), and second, the number of registered voters in the justice precinct if document volume exceeds certain thresholds. County staff said the available logs place the Benson constable in the under-100-documents tier, which the statute authorizes the board to set anywhere between $1 and $20,000 per year. Staff recommended budgeting at the $20,000 cap for planning purposes; staff estimated employee-related expenses (EREs) would roughly double the county cost, producing a mid-range annual total in the low- to mid-$30,000s depending on benefit choices.

Constable John Drummond, who joined the meeting by phone, said he has begun serving summonses and subpoenas since receiving a county vehicle and that the court- and sheriff-administered fee process remains unresolved. “I don't charge fees even for anything through the court. It's only, if a civil attorney calls me… they could send down the paperwork and send down a check,” Drummond said, describing delays getting a local bank account set up and that, in the meantime, the sheriff’s department has been depositing fees. Drummond told the board he is “fine with the low number, but I need to have something to justify going in every day.”

The board and staff discussed interim steps. Staff said human resources and the treasurer’s office will help Drummond set up a bank account and look at whether any health insurance options can be made available before January 2027. “I will have HR and myself. We'll put our heads together to see what we can come up with to try to address that concern,” a county staff member said. The board placed the item on the FY2027 budget calendar for formal consideration; no formal motion or vote on salary change was taken at the work session.

Supervisors and staff also noted that other constables in Cochise County will be affected by the same timing and statutory framework. Staff said constable pay for busier precincts (for example, the Benson-adjacent JP precincts) could fall into higher statutory ranges; one example given was a justice precinct where a constable will likely be eligible for a statutory increase in the $74,000–$80,000 range after the statute’s recalibration. County staff emphasized that fuller salary calculations require four-year averages of service logs and that prior constables had not consistently submitted those logs, leaving incomplete historical data.

The county described potential longer-term approaches to expand constable coverage—including budgeting salaries for multiple precincts to reduce deputy workload and recruiting retirees with law-enforcement experience—but stressed these would require formal budgeting and would not change pay before January 2027. “If you want constables to take this work off of the deputies, you're going to have to budget that for each precinct,” Constable Drummond said.

The work session closed with the board directing staff to include constable salary options and related ERE estimates in the FY2027 budget discussions and for HR and the treasurer’s office to follow up with Drummond on bank-account and health-insurance options. No salary change was enacted at the meeting.

The supervisors also scheduled the constable-compensation discussion for the FY2027 budget calendar to ensure the item is considered during the formal budget process.