As Cameron County Commissioner Court continues to address about a $5 million deficit and how to balance the 2022-2023 fiscal budget, two elected officials are seeking higher pay and the court will schedule a date for their grievance hearings.
Justices of the Peace Sallie Gonzalez and Juan Mendoza have filed letters that outline why they believe their salaries should be increased to $67,000, which is that of the county constables. According to court records, both receive $62,943 annually, which includes auto and phone allowances.
In their letters to County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr., both cite their long service to the county, with Gonzalez stating she has 47 years of service while Mendoza cites his 39-plus years of service.
Mendoza’s writes that it appears that none of the hard work the county employees do “justify a raise for us in the eyes of our county leaders. We are told time and time again that there are no monies available to fund the raises our employees and we deserve.”
His letter further states “The Constable’s salary is way above our own Justice of the Peace salaries. I am not saying the constables don’t deserve this salary. but to say we do not deserve equal is just one example of this unfair and unethical treatment. Especially when our Justice of the Peace offices are bringing monies to our coffers.”
Mendoza cited a report stating the Justices of the Peace courts collected over $4.6 million. “It is beyond offensive to learn that in spite of this common knowledge amongst our leaders, our staff is not considered for raises and the fact there are non-elected positions that are paid way above our salary.”
County officials attribute the $5 million deficit to a drop in revenue from the courts, rise in gas costs, insurance costs, and the loss of funding from non-county inmates who had been housed in the county jail.
Last week, the county’s sheriff’s department tried to get several slots within the department unfrozen, but Commissioners Court tabled that agenda item.
Another county department seeking overtime pay for its employees is the county’s Juvenile Probation Department, which is experiencing a staff shortage.
According to an agenda item, in response to critical staffing shortages, the Juvenile Probation Department is requesting overtime paid compensation for juvenile supervision officers, control booth operators and juvenile probation officers working in pre and post facilities over 44 hours at time and a half.
At a July 19, Commissioners Court meeting, Rose Gomez, chief of the Juvenile Probation Department, told Commissioners Court she is having a hard time hiring and keeping staff because of the low pay.
“We are undergoing critical staffing shortages in our detention center and our post residential programs. I currently have 33 vacancies that we cannot fill. Twenty-one of those are juvenile supervision officers, Gomez said. “This last two days I had five resignations on the spot,” she said.
Many of the employees are leaving to go work for other detention centers where they are earning between $18 to $20 an hour, Gomez said.
Gomez said she is willing to absorb two fulltime positions and to secure state funds to help fund her department.
