JUDGE HENNEKE: In trying to structure the
24 discussion today, Jonathan, I really was trying to do
25 exactly what you suggested, and that's why the first three
1 priorities that I have on the list are employee compensation
2 issues, and they totaled approximately $300,000. And that
3 is to give every employee a 2 percent cost-of-living
9 increase, to fund the salary adjustments that the
5 preliminary Nash survey indicates are needed, and also to
6 give all employees who are -- do not get a salary adjustment
7 based on the Nash survey a 1 percent -- a one-step increase.
8 So, that's kind of the employee compensation world, the way
9 I -- the way I evaluated it. And Mr. Nash has indicated he
10 still has some tweaking to do with his compensation study,
11 and he wants to come in and talk about it, so that's why
12 it's not fully available.
13 MS. NEMEC: Judge, I have a question.
19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes, Barbara?
15 MS. NEMEC: If you were to do what you
16 suggested, the figures that I gave you yesterday were the
17 one-step on the current step and grade schedule.
18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Right.
19 MS. NEMEC: So, with leave of everybody, if
20 the Court voted on that, would we move everybody up that one
21 step and then change the step and grade schedule to the
22 2 percent cost-of-living?
23 JUDGE HENNEKE: (Nodded.)
29 MS. NEMEC: Because if we do it the other
25 way, it's going t~ impact -- we're going to end up with more
1 money -- needing more money.
2 JUDGE HENNEKE: These are -- these are
3 preliminary numbers, and, you know, how we move people and
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4 what we do with the 2 percent cost-of-living makes a
5 difference, but it's -- like I say in my memo, these are
6 order of magnitude numbers. They're not down to the penny.
7 It's to give us, as Larry pointed out, an opportunity to
8 start thinking, okay, what can we -- what can we fund? What
9 can we afford with -- with the revenues that are likely to
10 be available? So -- Buster, did you have a question?
11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Would you
12 please repeat that?
13 MS. NEMEC: What I just said?
19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nun-hmm.
15 MS. NEMEC: Okay. If I get the -- I gave the
16 Judge some figures yesterday. I'm giving everyone who has
17 been here longer than a year effective October 2000 -- I
18 gave him totals on what it would be to move each employee up
19 one step. So, those were based on the step and grade
20 schedule that we're working with now. If we do a 2 percent
21 cost-of-living increase, this schedule is going to change
22 completely. So, do you -- do you do the schedule and then
23 move them up one step? If you do it like that, the -- the
29 figures are going to change, because each step is going to
25 be 2 percent more than what it is in this schedule right
1 now.
2 JUDGE HENNEKE: It's going to be more either
3 way, because --
9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah.
5 JUDGE HENNEKE: -- the 2 percent is based on
6 the current bottom line salary figure. If you give
7 everybody a cost -- 2 percent -- if we move everybody up a
8 step increase and then do a 2 percent cost-of-living, that's
9 going to raise the number.
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right
JUDGE HENNEKE: To give everybody a 2 percent
cost-of-living and then give them a step increase, that's
going to change the number.
MS. NEMEC: Right.
JUDGE HENNEKE: Because the schedule -- so
it's -- like I say, the numbers are not absolute. They're
as close as I could get with my ten-finger calculus.
MS. NEMEC: Our retirement fund's going down
this year, too, from 7.71 to 7.62.
JUDGE HENNEKE: Is it? Well, that will have
a difference. And the -- the one-step increase -- the
figures Barbara gave me were for the whole employee force,
and then I went back and backed out on an average basis
those employees who would get a salary increase based on the
Nash study. So, Number 3 is a step increase for Kerr County
employees whose salary is not increased or not affected by
the Nash recommendation. So, it's as close a number as I
can do with what I have now.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, this does, in
effect, satisfy one of -- I think one of the potential
recommendations. Isn't he talking about always giving
people -- taking a look at their longevity and giving them
step increases based on longevity each year? So, in effect,
you're doing that.
JUDGE HENNEKE: That's the --
COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: It's explained more
fully here.
JUDGE HENNEKE: Beyond the employees, which
is my -- my first pr-iority this year, to get our people back
where they are, and, you know, the preliminary Nash study
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shows that many of the -- the classifications, the range is
right. We're paying widget makers about the same as the
counties that we survey pay widget makers when you go from
the entry level to the top level. Problem is, far too many
of our people are packed in the bottom level, so the step
increase and the longevity policy that I've outlined for the
Court is designed to fix that problem, to get where if you
have eight employees, you don't have four of them in Steps 1
through 3, and one in Step 5 and one in Step 6 and two in
Step S, but you've got them scattered from 1 through 15,
1 which I think will improve the overall salary position and
2 photograph of the County.
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MS. NEMEC: Do I get a raise?
22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We were talking -- ~ i. \
r~ ~ V
23 thank you. Anyway, but -- well, I think you and I were
24 talking two different sets of numbers. If there`s 12 steps, / (\~
25 what I'm saying is -- is that -- that you would receive a ~j'\~1
~ 10 5 \V\
1 raise of one step every three years until you hit the top of
2 the grade, okay?
3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well --
q COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So you'd have 12 times
5 that you would have to -- i£ you went in at the entry level,
6 you would get a step, you would get an increase at tYie first
7 year, the fourth year, the seventh year, the loth year, 13,
8 16, and so on, up until you hit the top of the grade. 12
9 steps.
10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What I really was
11 saying after 10 was 1, 4, 7, 10, and skip a year and take
12 care of step 11, and skip a year, step --
13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Not steps. You're
14 talking steps, I'm talking years.
15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Z'm talking about
16 years. I'm sorry, skip a year, take care of the next --
17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: There would be a
18 longevity step increase every three years, beginning with
19 the first year.
20 MS. NEMEC: This will -- this step --
21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 1, 4, 7, 10, 12 and
22 14.
23 COMMISSIONER SP,I EFIN: See, that's -- I'm not
24 sure --
25 MS. NEMEC: This step and grade schedule is
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2 here i£ we wanted to.
3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I know
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think 12 is fine.
JUDGE HENNEKE: No.
I know, but I
COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think 12's fine.
MS. NEMEC: Because once you get to 12, what
they're -- not everybody is going to be able to get an
increase. You can't bump them up a grade. That's a
different position.
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15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. So, we will ask the ~~ °~(~.y
16 Auditor to include in the next go-around o£ the budget a 2 ~ `~~
17 and a hal£ percent cost-of-living adjustment. Next item I
18 want to bring up is department head salaries, and I have
19 suggested a 5 percent increase in the department heads,
20 which is Leonard, Franklin, Marc Allen, Glenn Holekamp, and
21 Russ Duncan.
22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Did I understand you
23 correctly, that they didn't get anything last year?
24 DODGE HENNEKE: They got a -- a one-step
25 increase -- the equivalent of a one-step increase. Since
f] 9 6
1 they're not on a step and grade, they didn't get an actual
2 step increase, but they got the equivalent of a one-step
3 increase, plus the COLA. So, they didn't get left out, but
9 they didn't get a full adjustment.
5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is a -- what is the
6 one-step increase? T mean, just depends -- I guess it
7 depends on where they are.
S DODGE HENNEKE: One step is approximately --
9 MS. SOVIL: Two and a half.
10 MS. NEMEC: Two and a half --
11 DODGE HENNEKE: Two and a half percent.
12 MS. NEMEC: -- percent.
13 DODGE HENNEKE: Five percent increase for
19 those department heads is about $8,600.
15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think a couple of
16 those, mainly Road and Bridge, f,e onard and -- again, that
1~ situation we go through, the percentage increase that we got
18 into with the County Attorney, their increases -- the
19 salaries are so much higher than a lot of these other
20 department heads that the impact, dollar-wise, is a lot
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21 higher increase. And, maybe it should be. Z mean,
22 they're -- there's more -- it's a higher level position.
23 There's a lot more education, a lot more experience and, you
24 know, qualifications.
25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Total impact's $8,600?
`1 JUDGE HENNEKE: $8,600, roughly.
2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Sounds good to me.
3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, does that -- is
9 it -- is it 5 percent on it or is it 7 and a half percent?
5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, it would be a 5 percent
6 salary increase and then a 2 and a half, so a total of 7 and
7 a half percent. Salary base would be 5 percent.
R COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand.
N COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And, for the record,
10 you said the COLA's 2 and a half percent spread
11 across-the-board, top to bottom, is $110,000?
12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Right. That was before any
13 elected official salary adjustments or any -- the $110,000
19 is based on today's salary structure.
15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For everybody, Judge
16 down?
17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Top to bottom. Right,
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MS. NEMEC: Well, 2 112 percent is a 28/2.
DODGE HENNEKE: But all the steps move up to --__~ ~i~~ \
2 lit percent.
MS. NEMEC: The thing is, he wasn't a 28/1;
he was a -- it's confusing. He was a 25/8, and if I would
have put him at a 29/1 -- well, we don't have 29 on this
schedule. But, for example, let me show you here. He was a
25 -- well, actually, he wasn't -- okay, he was a 25/7,
okay? Which, in the new schedule, it's $38,610. But we
reclassified them to make their -- their grade higher,
because the intention was not for them to get 25 and revert
back to a 25/1. So, in order to adjust that, I put him at a
28/1, which is $38,609. So, it did not give him an
increase. The only way to give him an increase is to move
him a step -- and that will give him a 2 1/2 --
DODGE HENNEKE: But the -- nobody gets a step
increase as a result of COLA. They stay in the same step.
The step is just increased -- the salary for that step is
just increased.
MS. NEMEC: Well, what happens is we redo
the -- the step and grade schedule, and that's how you end
26
1	up.	Doesn'	t matter to me. Just -- I'm	just presenting --
2			COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I	think maybe the
3	thing	was,	was that he was a 28/1 under	the old schedule.
4			MS. NEMEC: Right.	
5			COMMISSIQNER GRIFFIN: T	hat's -- he was -- he
6	was -	- his	salary was set at 2811 under	the old schedule.
7	Under	the n	ew schedule, that will qo up	2 1/2 percent, so
8	he's	still	a 2811. Rut he's making 2 ll2 percent more than
9	he wa	s.		
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MS. NEMEC: Okay. And, really, the -- the J, "Sp\
13 Administrative Assistant in the Sheriff's Department is not ~ {\`~\
14 a reclassification. Now, I don't know what the County
~ V
15 Attorney's office is trying to do or what Road and Bridge is
16 trying to do. This isn't really a reclassification. What
17 it is, is to r_orrect a misclassification, step and grade.
18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you,
19 Barbara; you don't have to sell me.
20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZE R: If we can do it just
21 along with the budget, I think it may save everybody and go
22 in effect October 1.
23 MS. NEMEC: Because, if not, then when you
29 get Road and Bridge in here and the County Attorney's office
25 in here, you're going to be comparing apples to oranges,
8-20-03 wk
222
1 because that's not the reason
2	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: We're good at that,
3	though. That's all we do.	
4	COMMISSIONER	WILLI AMS: One basket for apples
5	and one basket for oranges.	
6	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: I had my wife get out
7	some apples and oranges the	other night; I've been hearing
8	that so much lately. We set	them un the table and had this
9	long discussion, "This is an	apple, Buster, and this is an
10	orange." It just wasn't the	same thing. It wasn't the same
11	thing. Kind of like Angora	goats.
12	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: Are they ii ke apples or
13	like oranges?	
79	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: No, we have --
15	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: I shouldn't have asked.
16	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: Following the
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17 Sheriff's way of thinking of comparing everything, I just --
18 I don't know that we can give anybody a raise, because
19 Kimble County has more Angora goats than we do. It's the
20 same kind of thinking, in my opinion. There's no --
21 absolutely zero comparison, apples and oranges.
22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about Real County?
23 COMMISSIONER BALDW IN: We11, Real County,
24 we'll let them go.
25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I had a pear in there,
8-20-03 wk

1	Buster. I threw a pear in there once	in a while.
2	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: Are	we done?
3	COMMISSIONER	BALDWZN:	I can't tell.
4	COMMISSIONER	WILLIAMS:	I don't know; Judge
5 is still writing.
6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Was there an answer on
7 the administrative assistant, the secretary at the Sheriff's
8 Office?
9 MS. NEMEC: I'm going to change it.
10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whose assistant?
11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Mine.
12 MS. NEMEC: I have to change it, Really, it
13 is mis -- the step and grade for all administrative
14 assistants is a 19, and she's the only one at a 17.
15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess if the
16 Sheriff can jiggle some of his money around from one pocket
17 to the other.
18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Seems to nie that we're
19 finished, and I see Kathy's still typing. That's the reason
20 I asked that question a minute ago.
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21	JUDGE TINLEY:	She's waiting on the	presiding
22	officer to declare us finish	ed.	
23	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: And I was maybe	trying --
29	trying to prod the presiding	officer along a little	bit.
25	JUDGE TINLEY:	Have we got any more	budget
8-20-03 wk

1 discussions that we need to do in workshop? If not, I'll
2 declare us adjourned.
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COMMISSIONER BALDW ZN:	
I just think one of		~

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25	the major things that we could do	-- I mean, really ma	jor,	~ tt
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8-27-04 wk			1
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1	is -- and not this year, but next	year, some year, is	forget	
2	about all these $1,000 raises and	COLA's and all that,	and	
3	really and truly wipe out Line 12	and 13, and start		
4	everyt hiny on a 14.			
y	COMMISSIONER LETZ:	Wel 1, couldn't you	--	
y	COMMISSIONER BALDW	IN: That's the only	true	
7	way to keep things going the way	they should be.		
g	COMMISSIONER NZCHOLSON: It needs some	more	
9	study.			
10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah.
11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. But I think the
12 idea the Sheriff had about giving a -- some sort of a
13 percentage for merit increases has, you know, merit. It's a
14 short-term -- it's a bandaid on some of those situations,
15 hopefully.
16 MS. NEMEC: What I can do next year is do a
17 position schedule and move all the 12's and the 13's to a
18 19, and then distribute that to all the department heads and
19 elected officials, and then they can kind of look at that
20 and see where they have to adjust their other employees that
21 have more responsibilities and the pay is not the same, and
22 then kind of go from there.
23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the way you do
24 it, even though it might be morn work, is do just what Dave
25 said; restructure our step and grade and eliminate two
8-27-09 wk
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fair, but you end up with a -- you know, or two or three or
whatever, just redoing the whole schedule.
MS. NEMEC: Which is basically what we're
going to do with -- well, we're going to add 1,500 or 1,000
in -- okay. Yeah, that -- that'll work. I mean, we can --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's simplified, and that
way you could work out the differences between -- you have
to bump everybody up. Some may, percentage-wise, get a
little bit less compared to someone starting out. Have a
new 14 salary level as the minimum now, and try to eliminate
some o£ the steps or grades, whichever one.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Steps.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Steps.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Steps go across,
grades go up.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why do you call -- to me,
that's backwards. Ought to call it grades and steps, then,
instead of steps and grades.
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KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
Emergency Session
Thursday, July 14, 2005
10:00 a.m.
Commissioners' Courtroom
Kerr County Courthouse
Kerrville, Texas
Internal Revenue Service Levy on Kerr County funds
PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge
H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1
WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2
JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3
DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 9
2
On Thursday, July 19, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., an emergency
meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the
Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville,
Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court:
P R O C E E D I N G S
JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and
gentlemen. Let me call to order the emergency meeting of
Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for
this time and date, Tuesday, (sic) July 19th, 2005, at
10 a.m. 1 felt it necessary to call an emergency meeting
because oY the serious nature o£ the subject matter of the
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Page 2 of.
12 agenda item, that being an i.R.S, tax levy which was
13 effected on Kerr County funds. Yesterday morning, the
14 Sheriff brought to me a notice that some funds which was due
15 his office by the Social Security Administration, and which
16 belonged to Kerr County by virtue of the efforts of his
17 office, that those funds had been levied upon in part by the
18 federal government because of some outstanding obligations
15 that were owed by Kerr County to the federal government.
20 And I will turn it over to the Sheriff now and let him
21 explain how this thing developed, and we'll go from there.
22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I have a question.
23 JODGE TINLEY: Let me call the agenda item
29 first, if I might. Consider and discuss appropriate action
25 or response to Internal Revenue Service levy on Kerr County
7-19-05 emg
J 3
1 funds.
2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I have a question.
3 I mean, I looked at this yesterday, and I understand -- I
4 mean, it's obviously an important issue. I also looked at
5 the response that we had from the Treasurer which explained
6 the issue, and that is being resolved, and based on the
~ facts today it has been resolved. How does this qualify as
8 an emergency? I ask the County Attorney. I just don't see
9 this as an emergency. T mean, I see it as a, I mean, issue
10 that needs to be dealt with. lt's being dealt with. I
11 think it's a -- you know, a bad situation, the fact that it
12 happened, but the fact that it's being corrected, I don't --
13 it seems to me that we're spending a lot of taxpayers'
19 money -- wasting a lot of taxpayers' muney having an
15 emergency meeting and having all the Commissioners come back
l6 in today for something that's been resolved.
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