With the pay increase for all county police officers there is a potential deficit of 270 million dollar projected deficit. They created the problem they should be responsible for coming up with a solution.
Harris County commissioners on Thursday approved a motion to increase wages for deputies by 2026 — but where exactly they will find the money to back the $140 million boost remains in question.
The pressure was on for commissioners to take up immediate discussions about clearing a path to pay parity for sheriff’s office and constable’s deputies after the Houston City Council on Wednesday authorized a five-year, $832 million contract for the city’s police officers.
The county’s elected constables during a news conference earlier Thursday implored commissioners to not delay approving boosted wages for deputies. But the approval of the motions for a pay increase — which will create a negotiation committee charged with finding the finances to pay for the higher wages — could spiral the county into a deeper financial pit to the tune of a $270 million projected budget deficit.
Each of the county’s eight constables said they could risk losing deputies to other local law enforcement agencies without a pay bump.
“We work collaboratively every day with our partners, but it’s a real disparity when you have officers that are making $20,000 more starting pay for the exact same job,” Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said. “They’re doing the exact same job.”
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in a Thursday evening statement called the vote for increased deputy pay unprecedented. She and Commissioner Rodney Ellis opposed Commissioner Tom Ramsey’s motion for pay parity with Houston Police Department officers — with Hidalgo saying the move will exacerbate the county’s financial problems. She approved a separate motion to create the negotiation committee that will be charged with coming up with the money to pay for raises.
“That’s a bewildering thing for county leaders to commit to without explaining how to cover that deficit,” Hidalgo said. “They can’t answer that question because they do not know.”
Commissioners Lesley Briones and Adrian Garcia, a former county sheriff, joined Ramsey — the only Republican on commissioners court — in approving the pay increase. Briones said the county faces the threat of losing qualified law enforcement officers to agencies such as HPD if the commissioners court doesn’t swiftly pass pay parity.
The starting salary for deputies in Harris County is $57,000. After approval from commissioners court, the pay will increase to be in line with the city’s recently approved contract, which calls for first-year officers to be paid $75,000 starting in July.
“They are poaching our people,” Briones said.
First of all, they are not the same job; the job of constables is serving papers, evicting tenants, etc. If the constable is within the city limits, they don’t respond to police calls, emergency or non-emergency, so they would be getting paid the same to do less.
I don’t have a problem with the pay increase, but the cost of it will have to be figured out, and it should be covered by the three who approved the pay increase without proposing a funding source.
