Salary grievance panel recommends county review after constables say they were excluded from pay chart

A nine-member salary grievance committee on Aug. 8 recommended that the Williamson County Commissioners Court consider raising pay for three elected constables after the officers and several public speakers said the constables had been excluded from the county’s law-enforcement pay chart, producing a pay gap in which some subordinate officers earn more than their elected chiefs.

The recommendation follows public comments from residents and business owners and presentations by the three constables — Paul Leal (Constable, Precinct 4), Kevin Wilkie (Constable, Precinct 3) and Jeff Anderson (Constable, Precinct 2) — who asked the committee to direct the commissioners court to raise each constable’s salary above their highest-paid deputy. The committee’s votes on the three separate grievances were 6–3, 7–2 and 7–2 in favor of recommending adjustments; the recommendations will be forwarded to the commissioners court, which makes final budget and salary decisions.

Why it matters: The constables said the county’s “L-chart” for law-enforcement pay created large disparities because deputies and sergeants on that chart received scheduled steps and increases while the elected constables were left on a…