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Sheriff's office warns jail and patrol pay lag local market; recommends HR cost corrections or phased plan
Summary
In a presentation to the commissioners court, a sheriff's office agency official said HR data show the jail and many patrol positions sit below market midpoints (the presenter cited '90% of positions' below a 1.0 comp ratio), listed HR's $467,000 estimate as a baseline correction, and offered three options including phased local-market adjustments.
An agency official from the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office told the commissioners court on July 16 that pay for many jail and patrol positions lags the local market and that the gap is creating retention and operational risks.
“The jail absolutely has employees below a 1.0,” the presenter said, describing human-resources data that, he said, show roughly 90% of jail positions fall below the market midpoint. The presentation also cited HR’s estimate—about $467,000—to move affected enforcement positions toward a higher comp ratio and said 139 positions could be affected under current turnover assumptions.
The official distinguished between two responses: maintaining the existing step plan (funding salary steps at current headcount) and market-correcting the plan (raising pay to reflect local market minimums). He argued the county’s jail is a “high risk, high complexity” operation with felony- and federal-level detainees, and that average market measures may not capture workload- and acuity-driven needs for higher pay in certain positions.
The presenter offered three paths for the court to consider: adopt HR’s $467,000 floor to raise pay toward a higher comp ratio; ask HR and the county auditor to re-cost the Waco command-structure match (adjusting how Waco PD job titles map to sheriff’s-office positions); or develop a local market phase-in over multiple years so increases do not overwhelm the budget.
Commissioners pressed for more specific data. One commissioner asked for counts of deputies the county has lost to neighboring agencies (Waco, Bellmead, Hewitt, Robinson, Midway); the presenter said he would provide the figures. Commissioners also questioned turnover measurements and whether the county’s personnel increases in recent years (a commissioner cited a roughly 34% personnel-cost increase since 2020, about $11.6 million) change the context for pay adjustments.
Several commissioners warned that the political and fiscal reality makes single-year, large pay increases unlikely, and described the work as a multiyear process if the court chooses to act.
The court did not adopt any immediate pay changes at the meeting; commissioners asked HR and the auditor for follow-up analyses and data on the number of employees lost to neighboring agencies and other cost scenarios.
