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Constable asks court to fund radios, vehicles and higher pay, cites disparities with sheriff's office
Summary
A Harrison County constable requested $18,240 for radios and asked that constable vehicles be added to the county rotation (favoring 4x4s). He urged raising constable salaries to align more closely with sheriff's department pay and described cuts to outfitting costs for a replacement vehicle.
A Harrison County constable told the commissioners that constables were excluded from grant funding for the county's new radio system and asked the court to include $18,240 in the budget to purchase radios necessary for communications.
"For radios, comes to $18,240," the constable said, adding that reliable radios are essential for communicating across the areas constables serve.
The constable also requested that vehicles be added to the county's rotation cycle, saying many areas require a 4x4 vehicle for off-road service and that transferring current equipment to new vehicles would be cost-effective. He said an initial outfitting quote from Bobcat Communications was about $14,000, but after removing unneeded items the retrofit cost could be about $7,308.
On compensation, the constable urged the court to address pay disparities with the sheriff's department. Using figures that exclude SB 22 allocations, he said a constable's base pay is about $42,016 compared with a deputy's starting salary of about $45,488 and a civil sergeant at about $52,415, and described a roughly $7,918 gap compared with justice of the peace pay.
"The constable is the lowest paid elected official in this county," he told commissioners, and asked the court to take notice of the figures and consider adjustments. He said his office handles many duties—process serving, reporting and administration—largely as a one-person operation.
He also said his office is tracking developments related to Senate Bill 22 and that any changes from that legislation could affect future salary comparisons.
No formal action was taken on the constable's requests at the hearing; the court thanked him and said it would consider the information during budget deliberations.
