Money talk
By Lynette Sowell
My front porch
Have you made it to any of the forums yet for county candidates? I've attended one here in Copperas Cove and watched one online. During those two forums I have found myself wanting to ask candidates follow-up questions and even refute some of the not-quite-accurate information a couple have given. You eight commissioners' candidates, as someone who has attended commissioners' court meetings for more than three years now, I've seen who's attended—and who hasn't. But candidates, I'm not really talking to you today. I'm talking to voters, and I'm talking about money.
In Copperas Cove we have a city council, which like the county commissioners, meets twice per month. Unlike the commissioners, those on city council don't receive a salary but are what I consider to hold true public servant positions. Council members get $50 per meeting and possibly a few headaches, at times.
But on the county level, we voters will be deciding who gets three positions on commissioners' court (although one of those is uncontested) along with electing a new sheriff. County taxpayers pay these individuals a lot more than we do the city council here in town.
Did you know the budget for the four county commissioners is $260,224.18 for the current fiscal year? I didn't know how much they were paid until I started reading the budget a couple of summers ago during budget season. This rounds out to about $65,000 per commissioner to include salary, phone allowance, health insurance, retirement and more. That's as much as a teacher with 25-plus years' experience in CCISD and is the top of the teachers' pay scale. Let that sink in for a moment. To the current court's credit, the full amount is a decrease of about $10,000 from the year before. The salary itself for all four commissioners remained the same, at $172,382 total. That's a nice chunk of dough for meeting twice a month and working on a budget. Commissioners often do more than attend meetings. In fact, they should be out in the county, all of it, talking to their precinct residents and not just at election time. Candidates, you have a full-time job ahead of you. You will each have greater than 10,000 residents (give or take) in your precinct counting on you for representation.
If anyone tells us voters a commissioner's job is only about one thing and not a full-time job, I think that person is trying to sell us something. If we as citizens are paying $65,000 for each of four commissioners, we should expect $65,000 of work from each of them, more than sitting on other boards and going to other meetings in addition to court. We need your wisdom, your expertise, your creativity, and your willingness to question the status quo.
Then there's the sheriff's position, with an annual salary of $70,606.14*, not including retirement, health insurance, etc. To have the top law enforcement spot in the county, the right person deserves that salary, and I think probably more than that if they're doing a great job. How can we put a price on public safety and law enforcement, both of which are vital in this county? I give you these numbers not to criticize what the county officials have budgeted year after year, but simply point out we're paying these salaries.
If I'm going to take part in spending more than a quarter-million dollars of our county's funding on four individuals' salaries, etc., and $70,606.14 for the sheriff, well, you're durn-tootin' I'm going to think long and hard of who I'd like to see in that position to represent where I live. I can only vote for one commissioner and one sheriff. The same goes for those of you who live in precincts 1, 3, or 4. If you don't know what precinct you live in, look on your voter registration card. If you don't have your card handy, call the voter registrar's office and they will help you with that.
Let's take a little time, educate ourselves, then get to the polls. It's a great thing to see so many individuals stepping up to run in these local races. That's the beauty of our voting system. Like the old knight said in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: “Choose wisely.”
*This figure has been corrected to reflect the salary amount as appears in the county's annual FY2016 budget. Updated 12 p.m. 2/16/2016