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Constable urges Nueces County to update civil-process fees, cites $96.75 per-paper cost
Summary
The county constable told the commissioners court a new, cost-based fee schedule would better reflect service costs — his draft puts the average civil-paper cost at $96.75 (current common charge $75) and proposes an 'any paper not listed' catchall; audit was asked to verify the numbers before the Aug. 13 workshop.
The county constable presented a draft update to Nueces County’s civil-process fee schedule at the commissioners’ workshop, telling the court that state law requires the court to adopt its fee schedule annually by September for an Oct. 1 effective date. He said the statute ties allowable fees to the county’s cost but does not define the word “cost.”
“I’ve determined that that that paper today is costing the county $96.75,” the constable said, explaining he arrived at the figure by annualizing staff salaries, benefits and operating expenses, then breaking the result down to a per-minute and per-paper basis under an assumption of 20 minutes’ service time and an average of three service attempts. He contrasted that estimate with the county’s common current charge of $75 for a normal citation or subpoena.
The constable distinguished routine civil papers from writs (for example, writs of possession), which he said require substantially more time and personnel. He said his draft would include an hourly add-on for writs after a two-hour baseline, a provision he called “standard” in other counties. He also recommended a catchall fee — a modest flat charge for any paper not explicitly listed on the schedule — to avoid leaving items unbillable if new or unusual processes arise.
Commissioners welcomed the item as a “user fee” approach that affects a small set of users (lawyers, landlords) rather than a broad tax increase and asked audit and staff to verify the cost model and run scenarios showing the revenue “delta” between current receipts and the proposed schedule. The court directed internal audit to work with the constable and sheriff’s office to produce current cost, current revenue and projected revenue under an amended schedule for the Aug. 13 budget workshop.
Sheriff’s office staff also briefed the court on the patterns of papers and fees collected through their office and noted that some papers originate with judges of the peace and some through the district clerk, a distinction that affects how revenue and workload are counted. The sheriff’s office reported fee collections year-to-date and described categories that drive revenue (booking reports, orders of sale, writs).
The constable cautioned his numbers were preliminary and said audit might adjust some inputs; he offered to circulate a revised schedule by email ahead of the next workshop. No formal vote was taken at the workshop.
Next steps: internal audit will return verified cost and revenue scenarios to the court ahead of the Aug. 13 workshop so commissioners can decide whether to place fee changes on a future agenda.
