Burnet County JPs file grievances over proposed salaries

All four Burnet County justices of the peace have filed official grievances over their proposed salaries for the 2024-25 fiscal year. A public hearing on the matter is Monday, Aug. 26, at 10 a.m. in the second-floor courtoom of the county courthouse, 220 S. Pierce St. in Burnet. 

At the heart of their grievances is how JPs are compensated for travel expenses.

The four JPs—Roxanne Nelson (Precinct 1), Lisa Whitehead (Precinct 2), Jane Marie Hurst (Precinct 3), and Debbie Bindseil (Precinct 4)—sent their letters of grievance to Burnet County Judge James Oakley, who is also the chairman of the Salary Grievance Committee. The county judge is the chairman by state statute but is not entitled to a vote.

The JPs are evoking Chapter 152 of the Texas Local Government Code, which allows elected officials to protest their proposed salaries or personal expenses and request a hearing on the matter before the approval of the county’s budget. 

The proposed FY 2024-25 county budget shows most elected officials, including the JPs, receiving around a 6 percent raise, the same as all county employees. The only exceptions to this are the sheriff, who is set to get a 16.41 percent raise due to a boost in state funding for rural sheriffs, and the county’s constables, who were the lowest-paid elected officials and now looking at a 17.95 percent increase.

The proposed raises in the FY 2024-25 budget have been heavily debated and met with public scrutiny for weeks.

The grievance letters cite various concerns of the JPs, particularly the desire to be compensated for travel on top of their base salaries.

Each justice of the peace had a $4,500 travel allowance tacked on to their salaries in the FY 2023-24 budget, and they had each asked for another $1,500, which would amount to an additional $6,000 for the coming year on top of the 6 percent raise that all elected officials and employees were set to receive.

Base salaries for the JPs were $85,352.27 in FY 2023-24. The proposed FY 2024-25 budget has their base salaries at $90,541.69, a 6.08 percent raise. 

Burnet County’s proposed 2024-25 budget shows the travel allowance removed from their salaries and instead a $6,000 travel/mileage expense line item added to each of their budgets. 

Under the travel allowance rules, JPs did not have to track their mileage; they received a lump sum of $6,000. Under the travel/mileage expense model, they will have to keep track of their mileage to access that money.

Three of the four letters of grievance, excluding Nelson’s letter, included the following written statement:

“There was never a discussion or representation of the travel allowance #1930 being eliminated from the ‘salaries and wages’ of my budget.”

Burnet County’s Salary Grievance Committee is made up of nine members, including six elected officials and three members of the public. This includes Sheriff Calvin Boyd, County Tax-Assessor Collector Sheri Frazier, County Treasurer Karrie Crownover, County Clerk Vicinta Stafford, District Clerk Casie Walker, County Attorney Eddie Arredondo, and three residents chosen at random from a list of people who served on a grand jury in the current calendar year.

The committee will vote during the Monday hearing to determine whether the grievances from the four justices of the peace have merit. With a unanimous vote, the proposed budget will be changed to meet the request of the JPs. If six or more members of the committee vote in favor of the request, than an official recommendation will be made to the Burnet County Commissioners Court.

The court is scheduled to hold a budget hearing and potentially approve the budget at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27, at the Burnet County Courthouse.

dakota@thepicayune.com