Travis County Commissioners Court
August 17, 2004
Item 3
3. Consider and take appropriate action on request for increase of fy05 county clerk salary due to additional responsibilities, scope of office, and additional revenue.
>> good morning, dana debeauvoir, Travis County clerk. I am making a special request of the court today that you consider matching, for the purposes of the ad, that you consider matching the salary of the county clerk for fy '05 to the salary of the tax assessor collector. The reason why I知 asking for this is because the scope of office of the two offices is virtually identical. The tax assessor collector handles tax collections, motor vehicle and voter registration. The county clerk has a similar broad scope of duties. I handle real property, which also included marriage license and some other things, clerk of the court for civil, criminal, probate and this court, and in addition to those the third area of responsibility is elections. Which is also a very large and growing concern. To justify this, I would further add that in addition to scope of work, i've also taken on additional responsibilities and brought in additional partners and additional revenue to the company. I hope that my value to the company can now be measured in the amount of revenue we take in. The additional jobs I took on that are not required by law and are in excess of what the county clerk does and what most county clerks do is I have offered my services to both the democratic and republican parties to help conduct their primary elections for many, many years. And then more recently, I brought in a new partner, a permanent partner to county government, the city of Austin, which also gets us more revenue or cost sharing partners when we conduct elections through aisd, a.c.c., The -- certainly the city of Austin, capital metro, lots of the other jurisdictions that help us offer a more consolidated approach which benefits us for cost sharing, but also greatly benefits our voters when they go vote, as well as the training that's offered to our election judges so that they operate a competent and fair polling place on election day. The other thing is that i've also take place on the additional responsibilities of being a state appointed official state appointed and federal appointed person to the -- the federal agencies, the elections assistance commission and the ieee, which is a group of engineers and secretary of state to make sure that we have expert representation in the consideration of policies and procedures that affect the conduct of the election, including election security and the rei am burrment from the -- reimbursement of the grant program for the purchase of our equipment. Not only can I bring the county government the cost sharing benefits, but I also find ways to have other people help us pay for the equipment that is required to be used in elections and it will assist the other jurisdictions and prevent them from having to go out and spend public dollars on additional voting equipment because we offer them opportunity to use our equipment to meet the americans with disabilities act guidelines. I request this because I believe it is reasonable. I am being asked to be matched to another comparable county office. This issue has been under discussion and study for several years. And I would like to ask at this time that this match be included in this year's budget deliberations as well as listed in the ad that's going to be post within this -- posted within this next week. I ask for your consideration, your respect for the contributions that i've brought to Travis County, and would appreciate your favorable vote.
>> so you are asking basically for the salary that the tax assessor would be at in '05?
>> yes, sir. Certainly no more than that. I think that's a rare -- a reasonable and fair request.
>> dana, some of the duties that you have cited are -- are duties that an elections administrator would have.
>> yes.
>> I remember that because in the '80s, it was in the '70s, late '70s, we looked at, Travis County looked at the position of elections administrator. Basically they would perform, you know, the duties that you have cited. And certainly I think cost would be much more.
>> substantially more if you hired and created another office.
>> than the pairty that you are asking for. I think not only have you brought in additional revenue for Travis County, but you have saved Travis County an enormous amount of money.
>> let me say that I love elections. I have no intentions of asking the court to move in any other direction than to allow nelda and I to tip the great partnership that we have -- continue the great partnership that we have formed to conduct our elections. We are both happy and eager to do this job.
>> I was also struck in terms of just a few blocks away the city of Austin, these are statistics from 2000, and though may have changed a bit, the they clerk's salary no longer includes elections.
>> correct.
>> and the clerk of their municipal court is also, you know, that and not the other. It's one of our sections and not three of your sections.
>> correct.
>> so I felt that that was a -- the fy '04 salary for the city of Austin city clerk, who you are true now no longer handles elections is currently at $104,000.
>> excuse me.
>> 104,000. The elections administrator for tarrant county makes $108,000. The -- the county clerk for tarrant county makes $113,000. Clearly I知 asking for far below that. I think that what I知 asking for is reasonable for our community and for the job that I do. And for the benefit that I have brought to our organization.
>> the city clerk -- the city clerk of the city of Austin makes how much?
>> 104,000 and some. That's fy '04.
>> and zero responsibilities for running elections?
>> correct. She does boards and commissions and the minutes for the agenda. [multiple voices]
>> repeat that for the --
>> yes, $104,000. For the city clerk. I知 doing this from memory, I have a page that I added it up. $108,000 for the elections administrator in tarrant. 113,000 for the county clerk of tarrant. And that's as far as I got. I tried to call dallas and didn't get a response. But dallas and tarrant are usually comparable with dallas being a little higher.
>> in the other urban areas, how does the county clerk compare to the district clerk?
>> it varies. Most of the time the district clerk and county clerk are identical in -- in tarrant county the district clerk and county clerk are both paid $113,000. In some counties the county clerk is paid more than the district clerk. A few. In a few other counties, fewer counties, the district clerk is paid more than the county clerk. So it's a bit of a mixed bag. In the more urban counties, if the county clerk is conducting elections and that's very few, we are kind of alone in that, then typically the county clerk is considered for the extra job of conducting elections. Otherwise the salaries seem to be the same.
>> is there a motion?
>> yes, judge, I would move that we set -- put the proposed salary in the ad to be the same as the tax collector's for '05, which would be 95,057.
>> second?
>> discussion?
>> judge, dana, you obviously are you a very popular and competent county clerk.
>> thank you.
>> I mean, I don't think anybody in this community --
>> I appreciate the competence more than anything.
>> -- would doubt that. You know what spot that puts me in. We are talking about 13, 14%, increase.
>> yes, sir.
>> and I -- you know, maybe I知 too young on this court. And maybe I will become seasoned and learn that you just accept the fact that you have got to make these kind of calls. But it's not something that I can defend to people. I mean, you know, what it doesn't make any difference if the city of Austin pays their person $200,000, I think that $104,000, if I were over there would say it was too much. I think that we really start boxing ourselves into some corners if we want to start using comparisons with other counties and with job titles and this and that. Because ultimately what I知 concerned with is how do people in Travis County, how do they really look at it? I mean it just one of those things where, I mean, I will tell you that the person sitting back there in the next to the back row will write something about this tomorrow probably and I won't -- I would like to be able to sound reasonable to people, even though I can, you know, if you give me 10 minutes and -- in front of people, saying you know what, here's what the justification for it, here's what the job responsibilities are and this and that. But at the end of the day people go, I know they are going to say, I don't like that. I mean, now, if I want -- if I think that the court wants to see that the county clerk get to where the tax assessor is, salary-wise, then I think that that ought to be something that the public ought to know, probably at a certain time and say you know what, we are going to do this and make we start -- maybe we start over 30 years we get that person to that spot, you know, we think it's justified. Money-wise I think it's probably justified dana. I知 not willing to keep you at 77 just because I want to keep you at 77. But it makes me very, very uncomfortable to have to vote for this. Because I can't defend it. Other than the fact that, hey, you know what, this is what this person makes, this is what the responsibilities are. I知 going to ask for another week before this -- I mean I don't know that we will do that, but I知 going to ask for another week because the next subject matter that it is coming up I don't -- I mean, there are still some questions that I have that I would like to get straight with talking to certain people before we put it in the paper. I just want you to know that's where I am uncomfortable.
>> I -- I asked to speak with you and ended up speaking with your staff because I thought you might feel this way. But here's why I think a republican can get behind this very reasonable request. First of all I have not tied the request to what other counties are making. I merely am tying to within Travis County, within our community, for an office that has a similar three pronged broad scope that I also have a similar three pronged broad scope. And in addition to that, I have already brought into the company the kind of revenue that more, like tenfold, more than pays for the job I have already done. And in other words I have already done the work, I have already set up the permanent partnerships, so as a vice-president to this corporation, I have brought in the additional clients. So what I would say to my title companies and my real estate companies who are also my constituents, is that they have seen the quality of the customer service that I have brought to them. They have recognized the way that I had assisted the budget and the voters in Travis County, and I think those constituencies would agree that the limited request that I知 asking for, just for a comparison, just within Travis County is something that my republican constituencies would be able to get behind. I知 not asking for anything exorbitant. I知 merely asking to be matched. And we have already had this discussion for four years. So we have already had the thought that, you know, this is -- this decision that we need to consider, this is something that seems fair and reasonable for the last four years and this year what I did was I waited in the I had already brought home the additional partners, permanent partners, and already brought home the bacon before I asked the court to say now, would you please consider paying me for the contributions and the scope of work that I perform for our citizens, our constituents and for county government. It is a business model.
>> you kind of lost me on that tenfold revenue, though.
>> the amount that I知 asking for is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 14 and I have already brought in $156,000. Just in the administrative fee portion of Travis County's budget. That doesn't count, the revenue that we have earned from being able to share our equipment costs, that doesn't count the --
>> when I look at the -- owe.
>> cost sharing.
>> when I compare the expenditure side to the revenue side, you are saying there is a net gain? Absolutely -- well more than an a net gain. I brought in far more than I知 out. I知 really ask for about a 9% or so commission on what I have already brought in if you were to apply a business model. Which is why I think it is good business sense. For the purpose of the office justice of the you were comparing two virtually identical offices in scope, number of employees, number of outside contacts, number of internal reporting contact. In fact in the county clerk situation, because of the misdemeanor work that I do and the mental health work that I do, I actually have more internal and external contacts than reporting contacts than the tax office. But I知 only asking to be matched to a currently established county office.
>> here's where I can get to the comfort level and maybe it's because I知 now one of the older people in terms of how long we have been here on the court. This court in 1998 and years beyond that went through a huge market salary survey and adjustments for rank and file employees. And during -- where we found out that there were huge gaps in where people ought to be. We wound up making changes in pay with classifications and other kinds of decisions, there were people getting raises of up to 30%. They were so far off. That simply was never done when it came to this category we call elected officials. While we say well, we can set a goal, three years out we will get it fixed. The reality is it never happens because something always happens in between. What wind up happening is the gap simply gets bigger because what's applied is across the board. If there's already a gap, the gap just gets bigger. This is something I believe should have been fixed a long time ago. It just never did get fixed in terms of a linkage, that's going to be the proposal related to item no. 4 as well. I think there was a linkage that should have been established a long time ago. Never was. Gerald, you did get comfortable giving the second half of a very substantial raise to very deserving folks as well, district, county court at law and probate judge.
>> but there's a -- because there's money set aside there for that. That is not -- that does not come out of general fund money.
>> it could have gone into the general fund. And part of this actually is coming from the general fund. That fee only covers a portion of this. Our county court at law judges are 100% on the county property tax tab. So it -- and the associate judges, as well. That's coming out of the general fund. So these things do come out of the general fund.
>> you know what? I知 sure everybody, hindsight is 20/20, the problem is you got a 13 to 14, just jumps off, just jumps off the page. Now, I mean I guess some people are comfortable doing that. I知 not comfortable doing that.
>> I respect you for -- [indiscernible] [multiple voices]
>> you can vote no.
>> I understand that. I mean, that's -- you know, unfortunately I know elected officials like to have, you know, I would like to have buy in on this thing. 3-2 votes wins over here.
>> we can hold off a week on the ad, you say.
>> are you asking for a one-week courtesy?
>> any objection?
>> no, not at all. I wanted to say however you want to just consider elections for the last four years, or five years, that still comes down to a 2.6% per year and I think the work that is done is very well worth that and more. And so I mean even that is defensible. And I think my measure for someone being competent and doing their job is lack of lawsuits. And so to me when that occurs, that saves us money as well. I hate to just wait, because that what it is. I wait to waste, because that's -- I hate to waste county money, taxpayer money on settling lawsuits. I really abhor that. I would really like to do something about it in the future. But let's get back down to this. There are no lawsuits, money has been saved, not only in not setting up an elections administrator office, which just blows out of proportion. I don't like that, either. But, you know, that savings is there. Thank goodness I have been around the county 30 years, I have seen it really move forward, progress in how we handle duties that this government must handle. We have done it very efficiently. The j.p.'s, I can defend as well. I have been around j.p.'s for some 13 years and I know what that job is about. Again, lack of lawsuits. I know anybody can file a lawsuit for any reason. But, you know, to have a real lawsuit that's based on real facts is another story.
>> thank you, Commissioner. What I would like to add is in any business model, there's competence, but there's also the measure of quality of the work we do, which speaks to the avoidians of lawsuits, we really have had virtually none. I think that's partly because I make sure that our programs reach out into all parts of the community. Folks in far flung suburban areas, those who need special assistance at the polls, who are vision impaired, mobility impaired, are taken care of by the system. And we make sure that we get out into all of our communities and serve everybody in just as friendly and competent manner as we can. That's a part of this job that I have really taken to heart. Other counties struggle with, you know, making sure we do outreach. That's something that comes from the heart for me. I believe in touching all citizens from all walks of life in Travis County.
>> I guess the only thing that I would lay this is just a thought as we wait a week, I certainly respect anybody needing to have an extra week. But if you look at what's happening in other larger urban counties, with the exception of harris county, everybody else is having somebody else conduct their elections. Fort bend county, 354,000 people, they have a separate county clerk and a separate elections administrator. Denton county, 432,000, collin county, 491, hildago county, 569,000. El paso and larger counties such as bexar, tarrant, dallas, they do not have their county clerks conduct elections. They have somebody separate, it costs that much more. And this is a way for us to keep it consolidated. And it would -- it's a lot less expensive than hiring two folks and two offices and two computers and two health insurance things. Add 33% on top of the benefits. So I think this is a much more cost effective way to get the job done and to compensate somebody for the job they are indeed doing.
>> thank you, Commissioner. We are in fact the only large county where the county clerk has continued to volunteer to take this job on. And I will pledge to you that I love the job. I will continue to do it to the best of my ability.
>> I want to keep it that way.
>> dana? Since this is going to be be delayed one week, is there any way to get me some -- I知 looking at the August 2000 information that I have in the backup as far as what other county clerks in other counties are getting paid. But the figures are the current 2004 figures. Any way you can give me those in writing. I have already prepared it. I can -- [multiple voices]
>> I really -- also, I guess I would probably also be an upgrade for the amount of money that elected -- administrators are also paid. So whatever current information you have on the clerk, also election add stairts in other counties -- administrators in other counties, it would be helpful. Thank you.
>> be happy to get that for you. I have already got it partially done, I will get that to you and then I will get you the rest of it.
>> thank you very, very much.
>> I think that you'll be pleased with how I知 asking for less than what is done in other counties.
>> I understand. I would like to have it in writing.
>> no problem.
>> thank you.
>> we will have it back on next week. I think this decision means hold off on the elected officials ad, also.
>> correct.
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Last Modified:
Friday, October 28, 2005 8:38 AM