Salary Grievance Committee sides with JPs
Burnet County’s four justices of the peace wait for the deliberation of the county’s Salary Grievance Committee concerning their request to have their travel compensation changed in the 2024-25 county budget. Pictured (from left) are JPs Roxanne Nelson, Jane Marie Hurst, Debbie Bindseil, and Lisa Whitehead. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
The Burnet County Salary Grievance Committee sided with the county’s four justices of the peace over how their travel expenses are budgeted. The public hearing on Monday, Aug. 26, resulted in a recommendation to alter the county’s proposed 2024-25 fiscal year budget, which was ultimately approved by the Commissioners Court on Tuesday.
The change makes it so each JP receives $6,000 in travel allowances added to their salaries rather than to a budget line item that would force them to track their mileage to gain access to the $6,000. The mileage-tracking method would have been a departure from the way travel has been compensated for in recent years.
Justices of the peace use their own vehicles to conduct Burnet County business, such as responding to the 40-50 unexpected deaths each year, signing warrants for law enforcement, and covering for each other in the different precincts.
The county’s JPs—Roxanne Nelson (Precinct 1), Lisa Whitehead (Precinct 2), Jane Marie Hurst (Precinct 3), and Debbie Bindseil (Precinct 4)—each filed letters of grievances with Burnet County Judge James Oakley after a proposed version of the 2024-25 budget showed their travel allowance being moved from salary to a “travel/mileage” line item in their department. The JPs utilized Chapter 152 of the Texas Local Government Code, which allows elected officials to call for a public hearing on their proposed salaries or expenses in front of a county’s salary grievance committee.
The core request of the justices of the peace was that the $6,000 be moved from a travel/mileage reimbursement line item to their salaries. The JPs chose to be represented by mediator and retired 33rd District Court Judge Guilford Jones during the Monday hearing. He argued that the change in travel compensation would harm their retirement benefits and force the inconvenience of keeping track of mileage on the job.
That request was granted by a unanimous vote of the present members of the Salary Grievance Committee, which is made up of nine members, including six elected officials and three residents chosen at random from a list of people who served on a grand jury in the current calendar year. The current committee 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 residents Melissa Corona, Gary Nave, and Carmen Pedregon.
All committee members were present except for Sheriff Boyd.
“(The committee) did very well,” JP Whitehead told DailyTrib.com following the hearing. “We feel that we are public servants, we are here to serve the people who elected us. We did not ask for a raise, we never asked for a raise. We asked for an increase in our vehicle allowance.”
Judge Oakley, who is the county’s budget officer, told DailyTrib.com the change to travel compensation for the JPs was the result of a misunderstanding.
“I’m fine with the change,” he said. “I think there was some confusion. I don’t think any of the (trouble) was intentional.”
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It seems that the “county budget officer” is deflecting responsibility for the “confusion” caused by the “county budget officer’s” change to the budget. Is he the one who made the change which caused the “(trouble)”?
Agree. Just a “little confusion” that they had to get District Judge Gil Jones involved. The budget officer aka Judge was absolutely being intentional. Is honesty such a hard thing to ask for? Taxpayers deserve better.