Commissioners approve two temporary hires to ease tax office webDEALER backlog

The commissioners court voted to add two part‑time positions in the Tax Assessor's office to address increased workload from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles' webDEALER mandate. The court approved moving $6,886 from contingency into salaries and fringe benefits to fund two temporary employees who will work peak hours through Sept. 30, 2025.

Tax Assessor Thomas Warren told the court that smaller local dealerships began using webDEALER after the state made the platform mandatory in July, producing an influx of remote transactions that are more time‑consuming to process than in‑person visits. "We have had to take a couple of our clerks from the line, typically helping customers, to just run webDEALER transactions all day," Warren said, adding the hires would focus on busiest hours, roughly 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Auditor Brandon confirmed the funding will come from contingency and said the temporary positions are estimated at $15,600 per part‑time employee plus roughly $1,262 in employer fringe, for a total of about $16,862.20 each for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Commissioners debated whether one or two temporary positions would be sufficient and whether the problem is permanent. One commissioner called the webDEALER workload "a permanent problem" and urged the court to treat the hires as a short‑term bandage while evaluating a longer‑term solution. The court approved the hires and the accompanying budget amendment by voice vote.