During today’s County Commissioners Court meeting under Budget and Finance item 12A, the five-member court discussed whether to increase the salaries of County employees up to 4.0%, effective January 3, 2027.
Judge Samaniego, who is running for reelection in November, made a motion to exclude the Commissioners Court from the salary increase in order to show his leadership during a time of financial austerity. This is ironic for a man who has supported well over a half-billion dollars in new spending since beginning his first term in January 2019.
Commissioners Stout and Coronado, who lost their Democratic primaries and are now lame ducks, angrily interjected that they should get raises just like everybody else.
Stout voted for all five salary increases since assuming office in January 2015, increasing his own pay from $62,680 to $133,467, a total of 113%. When Commissioner Holguin stated her support for Samaniego’s motion, Stout sneeringly accused her of being “performative.”
Coronado assumed office in January 2023 and voted for a salary increase only seven months later, as if he already deserved one. After Samaniego’s motion, he whined incessantly about how all government employees should receive raises simultaneously and no one should be excluded.
The vote was 3-2 in favor of excluding the Commissioners Court from receiving raises.
We think it is truly amazing that Stout and Coronado had the temerity to vote against salary increases for thousands of County employees simply because they themselves were denied a salary increase of $5,338!
You cannot make this stuff up!
Thus, in 2027 the Judge will be paid his current salary of $152,725 rather than $158,834 and the four Commissioners will be paid $133,467 rather than $138,805, with taxpayers saving a total of $27,464.
Meanwhile, the salary of the County Attorney will rise to $235,596 and that of the County Sheriff to $207,223.
The public will soon face a major increase in the County property tax in addition to the 7.5% expected increase in the City property tax.