Editor: Shannon Cottongame
July 21, 2023
In a meeting held Tuesday, July 11, the Hill County Commissioners Court began developing a plan to address compensatory time that County Judge Justin Lewis said has gotten out of control.
Lewis explained to the court that County Treasurer Rachel Parker had brought the issue to his attention. “We have a big unfunded liability in our comp time,” the judge said.
Currently, the county offers comp time to employees instead of overtime pay. Employees can accrue up to 480 hours of comp time, and if they quit, the county has to write them a check for all of those hours at their current pay rate.
As of the meeting date, the county had the equivalent of $386,000 outstanding in comp time.
“You can have a situation where we’re basically giving an incentive to employees to take a check and leave,” Lewis said. “That’s not a situation we want to be in.”
The judge said that there are a lot of different views on the subject and everybody has valid points, but the court has to figure out how to move forward. “Letting this go forward into the next fiscal year is just going to be a financial nightmare for us,” he said. “The most responsible thing to do is correct it now.”
Lewis said that another issue is that the payroll policy isn’t being followed as the court approved it in some cases. Policies adopted in 2017 were meant to address the issue of employees accruing too much comp time.
This has resulted in the sheriff’s office paying overtime that wasn’t approved by the court because employees must be paid overtime once they reach the 480 hours of comp time by law. To date, Parker reported that the county has paid out $317,000 in overtime pay that was not in the adopted budget.
“It’s killing our budget,” Lewis said. “It’s destroying our ability to give our employees raises, it’s destroying our ability to provide more services to the taxpayer, and we have to figure out a way to manage this.”
The judge said that his proposal is to eliminate comp time altogether and implement overtime pay instead. He explained that this system would be much easier for elected officials and department heads to manage, and it would be an immediate benefit to employees instead of a deferred benefit.
“It also will not create the incentive for employees to leave and collect a large check from the county,” Lewis said.
There was also discussion about another issue that arises when comp time is not being managed. If an employee’s comp time is maxed out and they take a check and leave, their department may not be able to make a new hire for 12 weeks in order to stay within their budgeted payroll expenditures.
Parker also told the court that there are employees in the county who can never use their paid time off benefit because they have to use their comp time first. If they have maxed out their comp time, they would have to take 12 weeks off work to access their paid time off, and no office in the county can afford to lose employees for 12 weeks.
Hill County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Scott Robinson said that the sheriff’s office continues to have a problem recruiting deputies and it’s difficult to hire someone when they can go somewhere else and start accruing and using paid time off. He suggested amending the policy to correct the issue.
Under the proposals before the court, the county would buy out employees’ comp time and then eliminate the comp time policy, moving forward with the overtime policy.
Lewis said that while he’s in favor of the plan, he wanted to delay action until the court’s next meeting because he wasn’t sure exactly where the funding would come from for the comp time buyout, covering the sheriff’s office overtime pay that was unbudgeted, and implementing the overtime policy.
County Attorney David Holmes questioned how the court would handle elected officials or department heads using overtime pay as a negotiating tool for new hires. Lewis said that limits will have to be set, and then the official would have to come back to the court for approval. “We’re going to have to be more managerial on the budget when it comes to requests for overtime,” Lewis said. “It may be uncomfortable, but I think it’s going to be necessary to protect the budget.”
Evergreen Solutions was selected by the court in April to conduct a payroll policy classification and compensation study. At that time, the judge said that the process would give the county better data to determine what its payroll and payroll policy looks like compared to other employers as the county struggles with employee retention.
Robinson brought the Evergreen effort up, saying, “I’ve got to be honest. We have deputies who are basically waiting to see if this happens — if they get paid out on the comp time. They’re waiting to see what Evergreen does. Because of some of the things that were said in meetings with Evergreen, they have doubts now. I spent a lot of time trying to encourage that ‘No, the commissioners are doing it in the best interest of the county,’ yet there’s still skepticism, and that’s why we’re in the position we’re in.”
This led to a brief heated exchange in which Lewis said he disagreed with that assessment, adding that he’s had exit interviews with deputies. “No, you’re not in the position you’re in because of us,” Lewis said. “I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not this body that has the problem.”
Robinson brought up the fact that employees can make more money working elsewhere. “It’s all about money right now,” Robinson said. Lewis responded, “It’s all about management right now.”
The judge added that he understands recruitment is an issue and not as many young people are wanting to work in law enforcement. “But at the end of the day, working together, not pointing fingers, is the best way to get things done,” Lewis said. Robinson said that he wasn’t pointing fingers.
Lewis said that the county is going to continue its work to try and become more competitive as an employer. “This court has committed itself to that,” he said.
The court ultimately tabled action on buying out employees’ comp time, but Lewis said that the issue was only being delayed to the next meeting so that commissioners will have information on how to pay for the buyout.
Parker and Robinson pointed out that three employees had told the sheriff and treasurer that they would quit and get their payout if no action was taken on the buyout at the meeting. Lewis encouraged Robinson to have anyone waiting on the payout to come talk to the court, saying that he’s happy to have a conversation with employees any time.
The court approved adopting an overtime policy effective October 1, which is when the new fiscal year begins. Commissioners also voted to adopt an employee handbook outlining the changes effective October 1.
In other action, commissioners appointed Brad Cole as a member of the Emergency Services District 1 Board of Commissioners. Each commissioner typically selects one member from their precinct to the board, and the judge appoints an at-large member.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Martin Lake submitted Cole’s nomination from his precinct.
The court also set public hearings for Tuesday, August 8, on proposals to place a “no thru truck traffic” sign on HCR 2124 to address an issue with heavy trucks from a nearby plant using the road. A 35 mile-per-hour speed limit was also proposed for the road, and a public hearing will be held on the same date.
Commissioners also set a public hearing for August 8 on a proposal to place yield signs on HCR 1439 at the intersection of HCR 1432 and HCR 1439.
The court considered whether a burn ban was needed, but it was determined that conditions did not yet necessitate a ban. The Keetch–Byram Drought Index (KBDI) was at 471 in the county as of the meeting date, and a level of 575 is needed for a ban unless the county declares a disaster. Lewis said that the KBDI is rising by 11 to 12 points each day, and it’s possible that a ban will be needed by the court’s next meeting. He said that the number of fires is increasing, and he encouraged everyone to take precautions and call the sheriff’s office’s non-emergency number to report a planned controlled burn so that fire departments don’t respond to reports of smoke.
The court renewed an interlocal agreement with the Regional Public Defender Office Local Government Corporation. The program provides assistance for smaller counties in the event of a capital murder trial. Lewis said that the program allows the county to pay into a pool that is used to handle death penalty cases, which are more involved and can reach costs of $2 million. The fee was approved at $12,395.
Commissioners also approved the purchase of a Kubota commercial lawn mower to be used by county maintenance crews from Tipton International.
An asbestos abatement agreement with Environmental Support Services was approved at a cost of $14,500. The agreement is necessary for property the county recently purchased on Walnut Street near the Covington Street Annex so that demolition can move forward.
In open forum, residents of Oak Hill Acres came to the court about road and culvert conditions in their subdivision. There was discussion about whether the roads were in the county’s maintenance system or not, and the residents were invited to stay after court to discuss the issue with the judge and Precinct 2 Commissioner Larry Crumpton.
The court’s next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, July 25, at 8:30 a.m. in the Hill County Courthouse.
The Lakelander 