Georgetown Edition | October 2023

SALARY SCALES

October 2022

Feb. 2022

Feb. 2023

employment at the facility may per- form a variety of tasks, such as working in the intake area as individuals are brought in, serving as a recreation ocer or becoming a medical ocer. The most common job, Sgt. Jimmy Mobley said, is working as a pod ocer, which could mean guarding a 48-person pod. “You might have a medium-maxi- mum pod, which is a 48-man pod with one ocer,” he said. “We don’t like to do that. We like to keep it as low as possible. Right now, we do have that, just due to stang and population.” Ocers work in 12-hour shifts, and schedules rotate every other week. Together they provide inmates with clothing, food, medicine and exercise while supervising trustees—inmates who provide labor to the jail—and those who are a danger to themselves. Mobley admitted the job can be stressful and dangerous with the potential for violence, but “it’s not what you see on TV.” “Our convicts that come here, you really have very little issues with those guys,” he said. “It’s people who have made mistakes who come here, waiting to go to court. They just can’t aord the bail system to get out.” The day of a juvenile supervision ocer is not unlike that of a corrections ocer. With a starting pay of around $42,000, these ocers work with the youth at the Williamson County Juvenile Detention Center, clocking in for eight-hour shifts. Similar to the jail, the juvenile facility never shuts down. Unlike the county correction ocers, though, juvenile ocers operate from what Juvenile Services Assistant Chief Matt Smith calls a “trauma-informed approach,” focusing more on working with youthful oenders so they do not become adult oenders. However, the low starting pay and long hours mean most who apply “have to be career minded,” he said. “Especially after the pandemic, I think people in general realized that they can make pretty good money working from home versus coming into a facility with really tough kids,” he said. “What keeps you here, once you get started, is seeing the positive change in kids and really seeing them transform into very dierent people that have a pretty good shot at being

SALARY

80K

RAISES The Williamson County Commissioners Court approved pay raises for the sheri ’s oce in January, raising the starting salaries for corrections ocers by nearly $7,000 a year. This occurred after the court approved two salary adjustments that went into e ect last year—one increase in February 2022 and another in October 2022.

70K

60K

50K

40K

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91011121314 Years of experience

SOURCE: WILLIAMSON COUNTYCOMMUNITY IMPACT

Corrections lieutenant From $75,208 to $88,795

Corrections sergeant From $64,416 to $71,865

Corrections commander From $92,889 to $109,000

ADDITIONAL RAISES

COST TO THE COUNTY Funding for the salary raises was included in scal years' 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets. The raises are funded by a variety of sources.

arrived as more sta chose to retire or nd other careers. The county’s recent raises for the sheri’s oce do not apply to his department, and as the region experiences increasing growth, Matthew expects the demand for the facility he leads to only increase. “You have to think about what kind of population we’ll have,” Matthew said. “We’re anticipating 1.2 million by 2030, which is right around the corner.” Meanwhile, Williamson County has seen a 25% increase in violent crimes by juveniles since before the pandemic, according to Matthew. He is also starting to see more youth come into the system. Should the state Legislature pass the Raise the Age bill, the need for juvenile services would increase as it would raise the age of criminal responsibility from 17 to 18. Employee environment The Williamson County Jail has 1,142 bunks and averages a population of around 600 people. Those who nd

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to bring in new faces. While addressing the Williamson County Commissioners Court on Jan. 24, Gleason said over the weekend leading up to the meeting, he had three corrections ocers leave for other jobs in the county. Furthermore, he expected another eight of 11 hires he had going through training to be oered jobs elsewhere. “That’s how my weekend goes every weekend right now,” he said. The court subsequently approved raising the starting salary for corrections ocers from around $44,000 to $51,000. The move will allow the county to be more competitive, Gleason said, but the solution to these stang shortages is “a little bigger than salaries.” State of juvenile services Juvenile Detention Center Director David Scott Matthew said numbers started dipping when the pandemic COMPARING OFFICER SALARIES After Travis and Hays County— neighboring counties which draw from the same pool of potential corrections ocers—raised wages in 2022, Williamson County Commissioners Court approved increasing starting salaries to $51,000 a year.

$3.6M FY 202223

$2.09 million from surplus created by vacancies $1.15 million allocated by Commissioners Court $280,000 from county’s cash reserves $100,000 from leftover salary study funds

STARTING SALARIES FOR CORRECTIONS OFFICERS:

$5.6M FY 202324

Bell

$42,395

Burnet

Williamson

$51,000

$44,000

$4.38 million to be included in future budget $1.15 million already approved by Commissioners Court

Travis

successful when they leave.” Impact on staff, services

Hays

$50,000

The vacancies at both departments require sta to work overtime. At the jail, ocers have mandatory overtime

$50,013

SOURCE: WILLIAMSON COUNTY COMMUNITY IMPACT

COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM