Cameron County commissioners have rejected a request for $11,000 raises to two justices of the peace.
Although a grievance committee on Sept. 1, voted 7 to 2 in favor of giving increases to justices of the peace Sallie Gonzalez and Juan Mendoza, the final decision was left to Cameron County Commissioners Court.
On Tuesday, the commissioners court voted against the raises.
Justices of the Peace Sallie Gonzalez and Juan Mendoza last month filed letters that outline why they believe their salaries should be increased to $67,000, which is equal to that of the county constables. According to court records, both receive $62,943 annually, which includes auto and phone allowances. Their annual salaries are listed at $55,983. Their increases they sought to their salaries were $11,017.
“We had our hands tied during the budget process, and no elected officials received an increase across the board,” County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. said. “I understand, obviously, that the grievance committee voted 7-2. It is up to commissioners court to approve the requested increase or not.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner David A. Garza moved to consider the recommendation, but voted not to accept it.
“I think we deal with our elected officials as a whole; I do believe elected officials in this county are woefully underpaid in relation to what others make, but we took a stand in the beginning of our budget process to hold elected officials this year at the same level they had been for the reason of working through the budget process.”
Precinct 2 Commissioner Joey Lopez said: “Taking care of the masses, especially with the amount of employees we have, I think is real, real important and hopefully in the next coming years with our tax collections and everything, we are able to really catch up and make sure that everything is equitable across the board for all employees.”
Elected officials received salaries increases in the 2021-2022 budget.
“It would be great if we could get a pay increase every year, but we also have a lot of revenue shortage, so I think addressing our employees comes first,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Sofia C. Benavides said.
Commissioners voted unanimously not to give the justices of the peace the increases they sought.
In their letters to Trevino, both cited 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 wrote 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 stated: “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,” Mendoza stated.
Despite a drop in revenues from the court, rise in gas costs, insurance costs and the loss of funding from non-county inmates, Commissioners Court managed to balance the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the amount of the proposed pay adjustments.
