Travis County Commissioners Court
August 24, 2004
Item 4
Item no. 4 is to consider and take appropriate action on request to increase
county clerk salary due to additional responsibilities, scope of office and
additional revenue.
>> judge and Commissioners, we were asked last week to have
another week for folks to this about this. Dana September us an e-mail saying
she was out of town today, would not be able to make our meeting. As requested
by Commissioner Davis of getting current '04 and '05 salaries, she did get
that information to everybody, giving up to date information on the tarrant
county clerk, elections administrator, the dallas county clerk and their elections
administrator, the bexar county clerk and their elections administrator and
what we call local counter parts of the city of Austin city clerk and municipal
clerk and begin remember that the elections function of the city of Austin
has -- is contractually with dana.
>> hopefully that will give everybody the information --
>> in addition to that is the savings that we have by not
operating an elections administration office. I didn't come down here with
that information. But I had that information -- anyway, I think if we go back
and look at the -- at the office, the counties that have elections administrators,
you don't have just the salary, but you have the expenditures that each of
those offices are. So we have that as savings in addition to the job that
she does.
>> so the proposal that is on the table is to match the county
clerk's salary to that of the tax assessor collector to reflect that they
basically have three major divisions. If you looked at the other backup that
dana sent us as well. In most counties there seems to be a linkage, whatever
the number is, between what the tax assessor makes and their county clerk.
And -- and that's why I would move approval of the setting of the county clerk's
salary to that of our tax assessor collector in the ad that's going to appear
on salaries.
>> second.
>> motion basically is for the county clerk's salary to be
the same as the tax assessor's?
>> yes, sir. In terms of full disclosure, with the raise
that the tax collector was already going to be entitled to, that would raise
the county clerk's salary to 95057, which is still far below what other folks
are doing who do for the do elections. -- who do not do elections.
>> any discussion of the motion?
>> yes.
>> yes, sir.
>> we are doing this because due to additional responsibilities,
scope of office and additional revenue.
>> correct.
>> yes.
>> are those not the responsibilities of the county clerk?
I mean have we added, I mean, has something been written in the last year,
the last two years, or have these things been the responsibility of the county
clerk whenever the county clerk ran for office? Have we added these things
to the county clerk's -- job.
>> what has happened, what has happened is that most every
county has a separate elections administrator. And dana never pressed the
issue and probably ought to have when we switched over to the electronic voting
equipment and setting up revenue producing contracts where the county clerk's
office was performing services on behalf of other governmental entities. That
is probably a discussion point at that point that could have come up. But
dana was of the belief you didn't need to hire a separate person that it was
fine to keep that within the scope and duties of the county clerk. But we
never addressed the revenue piece of it in terms of what extra compensation
ought she be entitled to. That unfortunately is only discussion that can occur
every year when we talk about elected officials salaries. If you remember
a year ago, there were no elected officials salaries, the same way that there
were no rank and file salaries and the same way that there were no pops salaries.
That was an issue that could have come up last year and didn't. But this is
the year that she would like to get this straightened out once and for all.
That it's appropriate and she has the backup to show that -- that going with
a separate elections administrator is much more expensive and that's the way
most other large urban counties do it.
>> this is a bargain.
>> sure is. In addition to that, it's just a matter of being
fair and just to people for the work that they do. We have looked at other
groups of employees where we have added duties and we have paid for those
added duties. And so -- so to me it just comes down to being fair and just.
>> well, I guess -- my issue is that -- is that -- we are
trying to find ways to give people raises in this community that we are struggling
with, anywhere from 2.7 to 4% to 5.7, and we are about to sign-off on a 19.4%
increase, this is -- let me say this. I voted in the last couple of weeks
to give a position a raise, if I had to do it over again, I would not have
done what I did. And I think that this -- you know if this position -- I don't
-- I think our county clerk -- probably does a better job than anybody else
in the state. Given that she has all of these other things that she does,
in other -- and other communities and counties have elections people but that
does not change, I mean, ever since I can remember dana being in this position,
she has done the things that she does. If somebody is going to be predicated
on revenue that you bring in, well, we better get ready for everybody that
brings in revenue because if you bring in revenue and your salary is predicated
on that, but if you are in a position in this county where you are not in
a position to bring in revenue, well, that's not fair. I don't think that
these jobs are predicated on that. I'm happy to give a person a raise that
-- that everybody else is getting. But -- but you know, hey --
>> you know, she works very hard at that job. It's a very
important job. The democrats, the republicans and anybody else, you know,
would really be hollering if something went wrong. They would have every right
to do so. But I think that she hasn't done that. We haven't had any lawsuits
and I think that you all just -- it just speaks to the kind of competent job
that she does. We need to pay for competency.
>> well, I mean, if this were a situation where the person
had no idea what they were making, if -- if the position says that if you
get elected to this position, then you also have the ability to come and ask
for this predicated on, you know, what I mean it's very well laid out and
established that dana is a great bargain for us. But I'm -- i've got, I mean,
i've really got some problems with just with one fell swoop taking and giving
this position a 20% raise and, you know, where i've got egg on my face is
in the last couple of weeks I have done that. If I had to do it over again
I wouldn't do it. I wish that I would call that back and say this is what
this is creating. The same situation that we have with lump sum, creating
all of the things that we know that we have gotten ourselves in a bind with,
and, you know, what she's worth it. I understand that. But we need to find
a way, I mean, if we do this over the next few years, I mean, it would be
better for me. But hey I mean I'm ready to vote for it or vote on it.
>> you shouldn't take advantage of people who do a good job.
>> the thing is that we always say let's just spread it out
over three years. It never gets fixed. The problem only widens because the
tax collector's salary does continue to grow. We have had to gut it up and
make some tough decisions because it was the right thing, the fair thing to
do. We did that with the county district judges, county court at law judges,
probate judge, I'm hopeful momentarily we will fix a wrong related to our
justices of the peace. But if you look at the backup, there is -- seems to
be a logical reporting relationship between what the county clerk makes and
the tax assessor. Harris, the numbers are exactly the same other than $12.
In dallas county, the numbers are exactly the same. In tarrant county, the
numbers are exactly the same. In bexar county, there's that weird $12 again,
there's a $12 difference between the two. There are other differences, very
slight, in denton, half the size of Travis County in fort bend, but nothing
to the magnitude of an almost $11,000 difference between the Travis County
clerk and the Travis County tax assessor collector. And she's doing three
very distinct jobs in the same way that the tax assessor is doing three very
distinct jobs. I just think that it's time to fix it and move on.
>> any more discussion for the motion? All in favor? Show
commissions Davis, Sonleitner, Gomez and yours truly voting in favor. Voting
against Commissioner Daugherty.
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Last Modified:
Friday, October 28, 2005 8:26 AM