KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — The Kaufman County Commissioners’ Court last week approved funding for a budgeted pay increase for the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — The Kaufman County Commissioners’ Court last week approved funding for a budgeted pay increase for the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office.
During last year’s budget workshops, the commissioners, in response to a request from the sheriff’s department, worked to gradually increase the pay at the department to be competitive with nearby agencies in an effort to retain employees.
The commissioners had budgeted an $850 pay increase per employee based on projected revenues from a federal inmate contract with the U.S. Marshals Service which was to be released mid-year if funds were available.
Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood says the commissioners’ court budgeted approximately $1.6 million in revenues from the federal inmate contract which is now expected to bring in approximately $2 million. Additionally, Wood says the county did not budget for rollback taxes and have seen approximately $200,000 in rollback collections from agriculture lands being developed over the last six months.
The commissioners’ court unanimously approved a line item transfer of $247,455 to fund the pay increase.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Skeet Phillips expressed concerns about future pay increases being based on increased tax revenues and not on federal inmate contract revenues which he described as temporary revenue.
Commissioners aim to use the federal inmate contract revenues for one-time expenditures and to reduce current debt obligations.
“We think you’re doing a great job and we think your department is doing a great job,” Phillips told Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes at the meeting.
