By Kristen Tribe | Published Sunday, September 6, 2009
Precinct 1 constable Tom Bishop filed a salary grievance with the county Tuesday. He is asking commissioners to continue paying him $48,500 instead of $32,000.
The $16,500 difference was paid to constables in 2009 as an auto allowance. County judge Bill McElhaney said when the budget for fiscal year 2009 was approved, constables were providing their own cars.
Three new constables, including Bishop, Douglas Parr and Kevin Huffman, were elected last November, and prior to taking office in January, McElhaney said some of them were unable to get auto insurance due to the liability associated with police work.
In January, commissioners agreed to purchase cars for the constables. They were also allowed to keep the vehicle allowances for 2009 because state law says that an elected official's salary cannot be lowered, unless voluntarily, in the middle of a budget year.
At this time, constables were also told that they would not be given the $16,500 vehicle allowance in fiscal year 2010, but the county would pay for their gas, as is the procedure with all county vehicles.
Bishop has addressed commissioners twice during recent budget workshops asking to keep the higher salary.
He, along with the other constables, told commissioners that their workload has increased significantly, and that the position has evolved into a full-time law enforcement job.
Bishop said he has put 40,000 miles on his car in eight months patrolling and claims to have generated $70,000 in income for the county.
"I'm putting in 10 or 12 hours a day, sometimes more," he said. "We're doing all the civil process we get, but we're continuing to do other things. I know, myself, that I am trying to run a full-time professional department now regardless of what it may or may not have been in the past."
At a budget workshop last week he told commissioners he didn't want the pay increase for himself; he said he wanted it "for the other people that work at this job."
"It's not unreasonable to ask that a department head that puts his life on the line every day deserves a reasonable salary," he said.
The grievance committee and public hearing is at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, in the second floor district courtroom at the Wise County Courthouse.
Elected officials who are members of the grievance committee include McElhaney (who is chairman but cannot vote), Sheriff David Walker, Tax Assessor/Collector Monte Shaw, the county or district attorney, county clerk Sherry Parker-Lemon, county treasurer Katherine Hudson, district clerk Christy Fuqua and three members of the public, that will be chosen Tuesday from a pool of people that served on last year's grand juries.
According to Texas Local Government Code, Section 152.013, if six to eight members of the committee vote to recommend an increase in the salary, that recommendation will come back to commissioners for a decision at their next meeting. If all nine members vote for the increase, the commissioners must include the increase in the budget.
McElhaney said even if Bishop's request is granted, the proposed tax rate will not increase.
The last county official to file a salary grievance was former Justice of the Peace C.D. Archer in 2004. His request for a $6,678 pay hike was rejected.
A meeting of the grievance review committee and a public hearing is at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, in the second floor district courtroom at the Wise County Courthouse. A special commissioners' meeting will follow in the third floor jury room.
