Montgomery County commissioners plan on giving themselves a 10 percent pay raise

From Conroe Courier By Brandon K. Scott | Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 6:15 pm

Montgomery County commissioners and the county judge plan to give themselves a generous 10 percent pay increase for the next fiscal year.

The four county commissioners earn around $160,000, while the county judge makes around $166,000 annually.

With the proposed salary bump, County Judge Craig Doyal would earn more than $180,000, while Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley, Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Clark would earn approximately $176,000. Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador would earn around $175,000. Those figures include a cell phone allowance, except for Meador.

Other elected officials also would receive nice pay raises under the proposal, with justices of the peace receiving around a $9,800 pay hike, bringing their salaries to nearly $130,000. Constables would receive around a $6,700 pay raise for a total salary around $127,000 annually. County Attorney J D Lambright also would receive a $5,547 raise, bring his annual pay to more than $190,000. The tax assessor/collector salary would increase around $4,100 to more than $143,000.

County employees would receive a 3 percent pay increase, as discussed at budget workshops two weeks ago.

Doyal said the recommendation for increases is based on a salary survey published last year by the Texas Association of Counties.

“We made some adjustments this year that we didn’t make several years back,” Doyal said. “We didn’t get that adjustment when the salary survey came out, so we’re trying to make up that difference now.”

Montgomery County Tea Party member John Wertz asked the court to publish on the county’s website data comparisons with its peer groups, such as Fort Bend and Galveston counties.

Wertz noted that the proposed increase would put salaries for Montgomery County officials well ahead of those in Harris County, which is a significantly larger county.

“This deserves to be looked into,” Wertz said. “Any kind of increase should be looked into, but more importantly, due to the economy that we’re in. I’m a recruiter in the oil and gas industry. I know we’ve lost over 150,000 jobs in the Houston metro area over the past year or so. A lot of people are unemployed. I get resumés every day, and these guys want a bump? We’re paying their salaries.”

Texas Patriots PAC representative Bill O’Sullivan questioned whether it was appropriate for the court to increase its pay while in their positions, as opposed to running in an election with that platform.

The county’s proposed budget for next year is more than a $31 million increase from the current budget. For 2014-15, Commissioners Court approved a $301 million budget and will consider a $332.2 million budget for 2015-16 at a special meeting Sept. 2.

The 2015-16 budget will raise more total property taxes than 2015 by about $22.1 million, with about $7.1 million of the tax revenue attributed to new property added to the tax rolls. The rest comes from a significant increase in appraisals.

The court plans to invest $13 million in capital improvements, including $4 million of which will be spread across all four precincts; and a $4 million increase in debt service along with other items.

The money given to each precinct to fund roads and bridges, according to Doyal, is part of a plan to pay for projects without issuing debt.

Despite the pay raises and increase in tax revenue, the county’s tax rate is expected to remain the same as last year’s at 47.67 cents per $100 property valuation. The owner of a $200,000 home would pay $953.40 in taxes to the county.