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One county clerk was revealed to make significantly more money than their county counterparts at the Colorado County Commissioners Court meeting held Friday morning, July 12.
After an initial 5% raise was discussed across the board for all county employees and personnel during budget discussions, Doug Wessels, Precinct 1 Commissioner, made a comment to the court and attendees raising concern over the clerks in Weimar making $8,000 a year less than the clerks in Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Judge Billy Hefner’s office, despite having a great deal of experience.
“Your clerk is the top clerk earner out of all the clerks in the county,” said Wessels. “And your second clerk is the third one. The one where it is really off is in Weimar. I don’t see why your clerks should get more; I think the ones lower should come up there.”
Precinct 2 Commissioner Ryan Brandt rebutted that sentiment by proposing a “fair” solution; establishing a head clerks’ salary and deputy clerks’ salary. Brandt feels longevity shouldn’t be a factor when it comes to pay but rather skillset, and that the offices are all essentially run the same and that the clerk positions are all generally the same no matter the precinct, with some differences in types of work done.
“I’m probably going to ruffle some feathers with this one, but I don’t look at longevity as a necessity for pay,” said Brandt. “I look for the qualifications that a person has, their skillset and what they bring to the table. I agree skillset comes from longevity, but if someone from the outside comes in with minimal experience but can do the job the exact same way, do they not deserve the same pay?”
While Hefner agreed that the clerks in Weimar deserved to be properly paid for their experience and expertise, he voiced that his clerks get a lot more workload due to the amount of “traffic” his precinct receives.
Additionally, Hefner acted within his respective budget when defining their salaries, which Colorado Country Judge Ty Prause questioned if the court would challenge their longstanding fundamentals despite Hefner not compromising his budget, due to the raised concern, or stick with how they have managed before.
“Are we going to fundamentally change how we’ve operated this county for a long time,” said Prause. “And have others peering into your precinct, your precinct and your precinct saying I don’t think you should have given somebody a raise. Or do you want to operate individually and autonomously if you don’t exceed your budget?”
County Clerk Kimberley Menke commented to the commissioners highlighting one Texas statute, saying she could only make a budget recommendation to an elected official, but she has no authority over his final decision if he did not exceed his budget.
Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 Judge Stan Warfield noted to the commissioners that the largest salary of one of the clerks stems from their longevity pay being dumped into their salary pay due to her being the longest standing employee in the system, and that the new employee hired to take her position immediately started off at the previous clerk’s salary.
“When she left that salary remained the same,” said Warfield. “So, the clerk that came in to replace her is getting salary plus the previous clerk’s longevity pay.”
The salary budgets across all four county precincts according to Menke goes as follows: JP Precinct 1 - $208,834 JP Precinct 2 - $201,792 JP Precinct 3 - $197,820 JP Precinct 4 - $204, 268 The more than $10,000 disparity between the lowest paying precinct by salary and the highest paying precinct is a byproduct of how each Justice of the Peace has allocated their budget and funds.
Commissioners Courts meetings are held every 2nd and 4th Monday of every month at 9 a.m.
