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    Precinct 4 Constable Ron Hood. CENTURY NEWS PHOTO BY JOHN PACHECO

Court has ‘no choice’ on constables’ raises

Precinct 4

The Hays County Commissioners Court must, according to state law, give three constables pay raises based on a unanimous decision by the county’s salary grievance committee, but the commissioners are not particularly happy about it.

“I think that the grievance process ... may be in need of a little adjustment,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Ray Whisenant said, though he acknowledged that the process is part of state law in order to give elected officials a chance to appeal their salaries if they are unfair.

“That’s just what we have to do,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell said, referring to making adjustments in the county budget next week to accommodate the raises. “We don’t have a choice.”

Precinct 4 Constable Ron Hood and Precinct 1 Constable David Peterson had requested salary increases of $26,000 apiece, which would have put their salaries at about $93,000. Precinct 3 Constable Ray Helm requested a more modest pay increase, of about $7,500, to $74,000 per year. The salary grievance committee decided to give all three constables an annual salary of $74,000.

The commissioners received the salary grievance committee’s decision at their meeting Tuesday morning but took no action on making budget adjustments, per the county auditor. Two Hays County residents Dan Lyon and Rodrigo Amaya spoke out on the agenda item, expressing their disapproval of the constables’ salary increases, with Amaya calling the raises “another broken promise to the taxpayers of Hays County” from the commissioners court. Lyon argued that the salary grievance committee’s vote was 8-1, with Sheriff Gary Cutler holding out and wanting a larger raise for the constables. Technically that was the case during the first vote with a show of hands by the grievance committee, but General Counsel Mark Kennedy, who chaired the meeting, explained that an 8-1 vote would mean the commissioners could vote down a pay raise, while a unanimous vote would make the raise mandatory. At that point Cutler changed his vote when the committee took a second vote using paper ballots.

“Let’s vote again,” Cutler said.

Shell asked Kennedy to answer the question of whether the commissioners have a choice in the matter. Kennedy explained that a chapter in the Texas Local Government Code allows elected officials to grieve their salary and, “Depending on the action of the committee that hears the grievance, the court may or may not have a choice.”

With the committee reaching a 9-0 decision, he said, “The court has no choice but to accept the recommendation and find room for it. ... I wouldn’t construe what you’re doing today as a broken promise, because you don’t have a choice in the matter.

Lyon and Amaya left before the commissioners discussed their situation, voicing their own disapproval of being forced into the position of adjusting the county budget to accommodate the salary increases.

Dripping Springs Century-News

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Dripping Springs, Texas 78620

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