Williamson Co. officials approve 5% raises for law enforcement; sheriff says more needed

Claire Osborn, Austin American-Statesman
·3 min read

Williamson County commissioners have approved raising the pay of all law enforcement officers by 5%. The raises will cost the county $2.1 million during fiscal year 2023, which starts Oct. 1.

Most county law enforcement officers work in the sheriff’s office as deputies and correctional officers. They also work in constables’ offices, the district attorney’s office and the county attorney’s office.

Williamson County commissioners have approved a 5% pay raise for all law enforcement officers, including corrections officers at the jail.
Williamson County commissioners have approved a 5% pay raise for all law enforcement officers, including corrections officers at the jail.

With the raise, beginning correctional officers will be paid around $44,260 annually. A beginning sheriff's deputy will be paid about $61,129 per year with the raise.

A starting corrections officer in Hays County makes $42,352 annually and the same position in Travis County is paid $46,839, according to county websites. A beginning sheriff's deputy in Travis County is paid $55,215.

Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell proposed the raise.

"Since I have been in office, we made a strong commitment to support law enforcement," Gravell said in a statement. "We have provided the proper tools and resources, and now, the best compensation in the region when you include benefits and retirement."

Bill Gravell
Bill Gravell

The judge said the county currently has 76 vacancies in the corrections department.

However, Sheriff Mike Gleason said the raises proposed by Gravell aren't enough because they are based on the current salaries in other places and not the raises that other governmental entities will probably be planning to give this year.

"With his current recommendation, we will remain at the bottom of the pay scales once again, for an agency our size," he said. "This is the exact same thing we went through last year."

Matt Decker, the president of the Williamson County Deputies Association, said the pay raise was "woefully insufficient."

"While other agencies are raising pay, staffing and recruiting standards, our members suffer under a pay scale that does nothing to alleviate the insulting difference in pay between our experienced members and officers of other departments," Decker said.

"A deputy with 13 years of experience is payed $73,831," Decker said. "An officer with the same experience is payed $87,729 at Cedar Park; and $92,164 at Round Rock PD. Sergeants at the sheriff’s office are payed $26,000 less than their counterparts at Cedar Park Lieutenants are payed $23,000 less. "

Deputies should be paid as much as police officers in Williamson County because they are patrolling larger areas than municipal law enforcement officers and also they file the second-highest number of felony cases with the district attorney's office, said Decker.

READ: Williamson County gives starting corrections officers 17% pay hike, hires three prosecutors

Gravell has said the county has compared salaries of its law enforcement officers to salaries in other counties but discovered it was losing employees to other local law enforcement organizations, including the Cedar Park Police Department.

A beginning Cedar Park police officer makes $62,388 annually and a starting Round Rock police officer makes $63,286 annually, according to city employment advertisements.

The county's raise is 2% above the median salary in the area, Gravell said. The median is a middle number at which half of the salaries are above the number and half of the salaries are below it.

Before the Williamson County commissioners approved the raise on Tuesday, law enforcement officers have received three cost-of-living adjustment increases for a total of 11% since October 2018, in addition to their approximate 2% yearly increase for tenure, according to a county news release. It said corrections employees also have had three cost-of-living increases in that same time for a total of 21%.

The tenure step chart was changed in June 2021, the release said. It said annual tenure increases now range from 5% after the first year of service to 1% for 10 years of tenure and above to create a higher-paying career path.

All law enforcement and corrections employees will increase one step on the tenure chart on Oct. 1 if they have been employed at Williamson County for at least one year.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Williamson Co. officials approve 5% raises for law enforcement; sheriff says more needed