Commissioners Court News Briefs
BY GINA KEATING | EDITOR
Young County District Court Clerk Jamie Land asked for sharp pay increases for herself and her deputies at her Aug. 8 budget presentation to county commissioners, as well as raises for County Clerk Kay Hardin, County Treasurer Ann Daily, and County Tax Assessor Christina Centers.
Ms. Land said she, Ms. Hardin, Ms. Daily, and Ms. Centers “make less than anyone” in countywide elected office, and less than officials doing the same job in adjacent counties.
Ms. Land’s total cash compensation is $47,082, according to the county budget for fiscal year 2022. Ms. Hardin, Ms. Daily and Ms. Centers each earn $46,362 in total cash compensation, the budget showed. County commissioners make $62,564, and Sheriff Travis Babcock earns $57,797, according to the 2022 budget. Judge Bullock earns $81,231, the budget said.
“I am asking for the same amount of salary that you gave Sheriff Babcock,” Ms. Land told the commissioners. “We are all elected officials. I’m sure Kay and Christie and Ann would agree that our offices do a lot and … we should be paid more but that’s what I’m asking for.”
Ms. Land pointed out that the commissioners had added a $60,000 line item for a full-time investigator for the District Attorney’s Office in its tentative fiscal year 2023 budget. “I feel like if you can make a line to pay [the investigator] $60,000 a year, you can pay me $60,000 a year. You can pay Kay, Ann and Christie $60,000 a year,” she said. “Our office gets paid a lot less than anyone and it’s time to change that. It is time for us to be up on [your] level. I don’t know how things got so out of whack.”
She told the commissioners that the Palo Pinto district clerk earns $71,000, while the Stephens County district clerk earns $55,000.
Ms. Land also said that low pay was becoming a retention issue for her staff. “I feel like we need to keep my employees, and it’s difficult. Everything is going up except my pay, and it’s time,” she said, noting that while she has received pay increases, take-home pay has not increased because of rising taxes and health insurance costs. Ms. Land said she will take the matter to a grievance committee if the commissioners do not address the pay disparity.
“That’s not our doing,” Judge Bullock said.