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Nueces County attorney reports heavy caseload, asks commissioners for salary increases to retain staff
Summary
County Attorney Laura told commissioners the office handled 22 pending lawsuits and rising PIA and protective-order workloads in 2012 and proposed benchmarked salary increases to keep lawyers from leaving. She said most litigation is handled in-house; no formal vote was taken.
Laura, the county attorney, told the commissioners during a budget workshop that her office is handling a high volume of litigation and public‑service work and asked for targeted salary increases to retain experienced attorneys.
"We have 22 pending lawsuits that are filed against the county or against, county officials, or employees," Laura said, describing the mix of employment, jail-related and civil-rights cases, and noting the county acts as plaintiff in two matters (MERS and Coastal Bend Baseball). She said 15 of the 22 cases are handled in‑house and that motor-vehicle cases are handled by the Texas Association of Counties27 insurance arrangement.
The county attorney also outlined nonlitigation duties the office performs: Child Protective Services work, protective-order filings, mental‑commitment hearings, EEOC matters, contract preparation and advisories to more than 60 department heads and elected officials.
On public records, Laura said her office addressed 180 public information requests in 2012 (up from 159 in 2011) and provided roughly 146 advisories to elected officials that year.
Turning to compensation, Laura recommended benchmarked increases for attorney classifications. She cited comparative figures she and staff reviewed: Montgomery County at $67,285, Williamson County at $56,952 and Bell County at $63,468, and said she would use those ranges to propose new base salaries for attorney-3 and attorney-2 positions. "The main focus is gonna be a request for salary increases of my lawyers," she said, adding small supplemental increases for senior staff and emphasizing the office27s frugal spending.
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about outside counsel, categorical offsets (CPS and health‑district contributions), and how bail‑bond forfeitures and other fees are recorded; Laura said bail forfeiture proceeds flow to the county general fund and that some offsetting revenue arrives from CPS and from a health district that funds one attorney position. She also noted challenges when deadlines require prompt postage and occasional use of outside counsel where conflicts exist.
No formal motion or vote on salary increases was recorded at the meeting; Laura closed by asking the court to consider the pay adjustments as part of the budget process.
The commissioners scheduled further budget workshops after tax-rolls are finalized to consider budget proposals.
