TARRANT COUNTY (WBAP/KLIF)- The Tarrant County Commissioners Court unanimously voted not to give a 3% raise to elected officials.
Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks spoke against the raise during Tuesday’s meeting. “There’s a lot pain in our community, our economy has suffered, people have lost jobs, wages have been frozen if not cut,” he said.
Judge Glen Whitley said he voted against the raise last year and his stance is the same. “We have many many people throughout the county who are hurting…It’s obvious to me and has been..a raise for elected officials is just not in the question,” said Whitley.
However Commissioner Brooks made note, this doesn’t include county employees. “Our pool of county employees, except for elected officials and those tied to elected officials, are going to get a raise…the majority of them will get between 3% and 6% this fiscal year. We are supporting our county employees, their families and their ability to contribute to this economy,” said Commissioner Brooks.
Judge Whitley said the county is doing everything it can to save resident’s money. “We are very stingy with the tax dollars that you give us and the tax dollars we ask from you,” said Whitley.
Whitley points out if you compare Tarrant County to other big urban counties in Texas, it has the lowest number of county employees compared to it’s population, with 2.3 employees per 1,000 citizens. The next closest is Dallas with 2.5 employees per 1,000 residents,
Whitley said if they were at the same level as Dallas county, which is also considered low, it would cost tax payers an additional $66 million a year. He said Travis County has the highest number of country employees and said if Tarrant County was at that level it would be an additional $365 million a year.
The Commissioners did approve a $701 million budget for fiscal year 2021 and approved the property tax rate of $.23 per $100 valuation.
