County budget staff: prior advisory panel recommended two years of 5% increases; Commissioners Court reduced second year to 3%

Thomas Gabbard, chief of staff to the county manager, presented the budget office's historical memo and said the citizens advisory committee convened in 2023 recommended a two‑year approach that envisioned about two 5% increases for elected officials.

Gabbard told the panel, “The committee's recommendation was for 2 years, 5% a 5% increase for fiscal year 2023-24, and then subsequent to that, a 5% increase for the upcoming fiscal year.” He said Commissioners Court approved the first year’s 5% and reduced the subsequent recommendation to 3% to be consistent with the proposed increase for county staff in the FY24–25 budget. The budget staff did not have a county‑by‑county ranking at the hearing and said their work focused on large urban county benchmarks and internal Bexar County market analysis.

Gabbard provided committee members with a packet that included the advisory committee memo and the benchmarks the advisory group used; the packet was offered as the record support for the prior recommendation. Committee members asked follow‑up questions about how the 10% figure would have ranked Bexar County constables against other large Texas counties and Gabbard said that data was not available in the presentation.