A pay increase could be coming soon for all Bexar County employees. If approved, it means thousands more dollars for elected officials like the sheriff and county judge.
Some think an ongoing pandemic isn't the right time for such a movie, but county leaders say they want to reward the employees who have worked on the front lines this past year.
The pay increase would be 5% for all county employees, including elected officials. That amounts to an extra $8,592 for Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and an additional $7,947 for Sheriff Javier Salazar.
Meanwhile, county commissioners for precincts 1, 2 and 3 would get an extra $6,565 while County Commissioner Tommy Calvert would earn an additional $6,696 if they accept the raise.
Wolff told KENS 5 employees can file a grievance or decide not to take it. In addition, county commissioners are asking the one-time $1,000 bonus for hourly employees can be increased.
“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll be thinking about it,” Judge Wolff told KENS 5 when asked if he would accept the raise.
Commissioner Trish DeBerry, representing precinct 3, voted against a motion to approve the pay raise, and said she would not accept the raise.
“It’s not a time for elected officials to be accepting a pay raise,” DeBerry said. “Not just from a pragmatic standpoint but from an optics standpoint, [I decided] to say, 'No, we’re going to award those who have been on the front line every day but not necessarily those in the seat of power.'"
County Manager David Smith says most employees did not accept a pay raise last year due to the pandemic. Wolff says many open positions were frozen and spending was cut.
“We had to hold our own,” Wolff said, adding the proposed 5% increase is a cost-of-living raise.
Ahead of Sept. 14, when the budget will be approved and the tax rate set, commissioners and the Bexar County Hospital District will also weigh a proposed homestead exemption for the entire county.
Under statute, Smith says the minimum homestead exemption would be $5,000. DeBerry made the proposal after the pandemic drastically impacted the housing market.
“Appraisals for the county, they’ve gone up by 7% [in 2021] So we keep collecting money, so my feeling is we need to give some of that money back to the homeowner and the taxpayer in Bexar County. My feeling is with the homestead exemption at the hospital district and at the county level, we can accomplish that,” DeBerry said.
The exemption would go into effect next summer if approved, according to the county manager. The impact on the county’s proposed $2.7 billion budget would have to be assessed first before the exemption is finalized.