TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — Travis County commissioners voted to give themselves and other elected officials pay raises in the fiscal year 2020 – but they didn't approve the maximum salary increases that had been previously proposed.
The Statesman reported that commissioners will get a 14% pay raise, bringing their base salary from $119,508 to $135,662; County Judge Sarah Eckhardt will get an 11% raise, bringing her salary to $156,630; Sheriff Sally Hernandez will get a 6% raise, bringing her salary to $164,951; and county and district clerks and the tax accessor-collector will all get 5% raises.
The commissioners said salary increases would bring them in line with what officials in other Texas counties – like Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties – are paid, the Statesman previously reported.
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Commissioners approved the first of three rounds of proposed raises in 2018 and had been planning to give the rest incrementally over two years – until the county's budget department recommended applying them at once, the Statesman reported. That recommendation was based on concerns about a tightening budget in years to come and would have given commissioners a 27% raise for fiscal 2020.
But on Tuesday, the commissioners opted to stick to the three-year timeline.
The court will look at the last round of pay increases in 2020 when considering the following year's budget.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved a nearly $25 million state grant proposal for a public defender's office. The Statesman reported the proposal would hold defense lawyers to a higher standard, pay them hourly and limit the number of cases they can take.
That proposal still needs to clear one more hurdle: getting final approval from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, the state agency that oversees the grant program. That agency will make a decision on August 29.
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