Burnet County struggles with salary increases as deadline looms

Burnet County elected officials are struggling over how much their raises should be in the 2025 budget. Legal public notices will announce proposed maximum pay increases of $20,000 a year each for all 18 elected officials, but that most likely will not be the final number, they say. Disputes over pay equality during a special meeting of the Commissioners Court on Wednesday, Aug. 7, delayed a final decision.
The proposed $20,000 raise represents the highest possible salary increase elected officials can receive in the 2025 budget. The Commissioners Court is required to publicly publish maximum possible raises for all elected officials at least 10 days before a budget hearing. A public hearing is expected to be set for the future during the 9 a.m. Aug. 13 meeting of the Commissioners Court at the Burnet County Courthouse, 220 S. Pierce St. in Burnet.
After the public hearing, the court will vote on what the actual raises will be for elected officials and all Burnet County employees.
The proposed pay increase for county employees was originally around 6 percent. The proposed raises for all elected officials were set at different levels.
That initial set of salary maximums, which was proposed by Burnet County Judge James Oakley, was presented to the court on July 23. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve those figures for publication in the local paper of record, as required by law. An analysis of these salary changes can be found in the July 26 DailyTrib.com story “Burnet County eyes big raises for electeds and employees.”
Officials protested the proposed raises, and Oakley subsequently presented a new set of higher numbers on Aug. 7. Oakley is tasked with preparing the budget each year.
Following a heated discussion over the new numbers, commissioners decided to rescind Oakley’s initial proposal and advertise raises for elected officials at $20,000 a year each.
Oakley said he made the changes to take into consideration a request by the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office for a larger salary increase using state funds received from Texas Senate Bill 22, which awarded money to rural law enforcement agencies across the state.
“Subsequent to our vote last time (July 23), we became aware that there were some Senate Bill 22 funds that would go to an increase for the Sheriff’s Office, and there were some other requests that came in,” Oakley said. “Generally speaking, the sheriff, the county judge, and the county attorney are all at the same level.”
The original proposal gave the sheriff a 6.19 percent raise, adding $6,634 a year and bringing the salary up from $105,159 to $111,553. The money from SB22 brings that number up to $122,416, a 16.41 percent increase.
With the new increase for the sheriff, Judge Oakley also upped the proposed salaries of the county judge and the county attorney to make them comparable. The judge’s proposed salary would increase from $106,841 to $124,251; the county attorney’s from $114,599 to $133,274.
Other elected officials questioned Oakley’s methods for setting the raises and asked him to advertise the maximum $20,000-a-year amount so Burnet County could meet the legal deadline for placing the ad. Officials can then use the time between publication date and the next regular meeting on Aug. 13 to explore other options.
“If these numbers don’t matter, put a cap on them at $20,000, let the public come to Commissioners Court, and let us discuss it in open court,” said District Clerk Casie Walker.
Another issue came up when Burnet County Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Lisa Whitehead pointed out that the four JPs should receive equal base pay to county commissioners in addition to a proposed $6,000 travel allowance for using their own vehicles on the job. Under the current rules, the travel allowance is lumped in with their salary.
Burnet County commissioners are given a county-owned work truck to use on the job and a gas card to cover fuel expenses.
“We are not looking to get a huge raise in our salary,” Whitehead told DailyTrib.com following the meeting. “We want things to be fair across the board. There are some who get a huge increase, and there are others that get a tiny little tidbit.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Billy Wall, whose term expires at the end of the year, backed up Walker’s proposal and moved to set the $20,000 maximum in the public notice with the intention of finding the true raises when the budget is actually voted on in two weeks. Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther seconded his motion, and the court, sans Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle, who was absent, voted in favor of the motion.
Following the meeting, DailyTrib.com asked Oakley how he came to the numbers he proposed.
“The numbers that are in the proposed ad are merely that (proposed),” he said. “I’m trying to strike a balance that is fiscally responsible but also makes us competitive in the marketplace for the professionals that we need to make this ship run.”
Oakley was referring to the fact that the county had provided raises for staff to attract more applicants and retain skilled workers, which in turn, he said, warranted raises for the elected officials who oversee the employees.
“I understand the sensitivity of taxpayers with what we’re talking about,” he said. “There’s just a lot of things to fit into the budget, and these requested changes do fit within the balanced budget that I am proposing. Anytime you’re talking about salaries, whether it be staff level or elected officials, it becomes a daisy chain effect because when you make a change, it tends to affect a lot of other things.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that a public hearing on the budget would be held on Aug. 13. The Burnet County Commissioners Court is expected to set a date for the public hearing during its regular meeting on Aug. 13. No hearing date has yet been set.
11 thoughts on “Burnet County struggles with salary increases as deadline looms”
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Are raises based off of increased property taxes? Do they set their budget based off of property taxes? If so they need to reexamine the appraisals in this county. There are many for sale properties on the market right now that are listed below what the CAD claims they are worth. Many have even reduced the prices. Guess what they are NOT selling. If the CAD claims these properties are worth what they say they are then explain why they are NOT selling at amounts far below what the CAD appraised them at.
Yes!!
Have you heard about the citizens suing Denton County for inflating the values?
Without high assessed property values, the county can’t borrow as much in those tax loan notes to cover all the extra & over budget spending.
So “Judge” Oakley wants a 16% raise?!
This is on top of the over $26,000 he receives for doing uncontested probate hearings. Don’t forget that he also receives a PEC Board of Directors stipend, which he told a Burnet County forum the pay “really isn’t that much after taxes.” This all sounds like he is trying to bump up his pay before he finally retires, or to pay his legal fees for his three cases that are still before the 3rd Court of Appeals.
Layoffs at the Texas Housing Foundation are reported in this paper today.
BIG raises for elected admin in Burnet County.
Which management style is more fiscally conservative?
Fiscally responsible, what a joke. Be transparent and post the statutory required notice in the newspaper with the proposed elected official salaries. All current county elected official’s salaries are available on the Texas Association of Counties website. Do your due diligence Burnet county!
Agree Ms. Parker! The article from the Trib a few weeks ago had the “administrative” judge saying the county was having to be fiscally conservative this year on the budget. So much for that! Be mindful of the taxpayers, show transparency and act accordingly!
Fiscally conservative?
Does that include borrowing a new $5,000,000 tax note to keep things running?
Maybe more than $5,000,000 this time?
The legislature passed a spending cap for reasons such as this, and Burnet County found a creative workaround!
New tax notes ahead!!
There’s a blank one in the agenda notice.
The SB22 salary increase was a surprise?
The budget officers didn’t know about the SB22 salary supplement which was signed last year?
What is really going on here?
The Sheriff gets a raise because the State said he should get a raise (didn’t the county mess up the Sheriff’s salary last year?) and somehow the judge thinks the elected county admin should receive the same pay as the Sheriff? Really?
What is really going on in Burnet County?
Agree, he thinks he should make more than the Sheriff. He also fails to mention that he receives a stipend from the State in the amount of $25,200.00 which is separate from his salary. Some might think you’re overpaid.
He sure “perfected this”.