Karen Gleason
Val Verde County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said he is proposing a raise for all county employees, including elected officials.
Owens presented the pay increase proposal during the Aug. 9 special meeting of Val Verde County Commissioners Court.
The county judge is proposing a 3% pay increase or $1,200, whichever is greater, for all county employees.
Owens also said he would like a certain group of elected officials to receive an additional stipend – $2,000 or $1,300.
Owens said the elected officials he’d like to see receive the added money are Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez, County Attorney David Martinez, all four county commissioners and the county judge. Owens said he believed those specified elected officials deserved a larger pay hike for the additional work they have all done during the various county crises that have emerged over the past year-and-a-half.
After presenting the pay proposal to the court, Owens also said he believed the county could use some of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) money it received to fund some of the proposed additional increases.
During the Aug. 9 meeting, County Auditor Matt Weingardt asked the court to table further discussion of the elected officials’ salaries in the proposed budget until after executive session, and the court unanimously approved his request.
Following a closed-door executive session later in the meeting, Owens reconvened the meeting in open session and announced no action had been taken.
He then called for a vote on the elected officials’ salary increase proposal.
“We had talked about, across the board, it would be a 3% raise for everybody, or $1,200, whichever is higher, and I think most – no, all – of the elected officials fall under the $1,200, not the 3%,” Owens said.
“The other thing, the ARP (American Rescue Plan) money, there are certain departments that had a lot to do with the COVID-19, were actually out in the middle of the night, so I’m going to propose that the elected officials get the 3% or $1,200, that would be their regular raise, then the sheriff’s office, the county attorney, four commissioners and the county judge, would receive a $2,000 stipend out of the ARP money and all other elected officials to receive a $1,300 stipend,” Owens added.
“I’ll make a motion to set those salaries and publish,” County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores gave the second.
Before the vote, Owens said, “Before I get calls, what will be my line of thinking, I will tell you that, as hard as everybody worked during this pandemic, I was blessed to be able to be part of this team that I just mentioned, and the amount of help and the effort that these individuals put into the pandemic and winter storm and everything else – these are people who got the phone calls at 2, 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning, and that was my reasoning behind these elected officials that I just mentioned.”
The court voted unanimously to approve Nettleton’s motion.
