LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session Revision 1 May 7, 2001 TO: Honorable Tom Ramsay, Chair, House Committee on County Affairs FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB3440 by Gallego (Relating to the compensation of county sheriffs.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted ************************************************************************** * The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal * * basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of * * the bill. * ************************************************************************** All Funds, Five-Year Impact: *************************************************************************** *Fiscal Probable Savings/(Cost) from Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) * * Year General Revenue Fund from Counties * * 0001 * * 2001 $(47,475) $47,475 * * 2002 (522,231) 522,231 * * 2003 (598,191) 598,191 * * 2004 (628,100) 628,100 * * 2005 (659,505) 659,505 * * 2006 (692,480) 692,480 * *************************************************************************** The first table assumes an effective date of July 1, 2001. The second table assumes an effective date of September 1, 2001. *************************************************************************** *Fiscal Probable Savings/(Cost) from Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) * * Year General Revenue Fund from Counties * * 0001 * * 2002 $(522,231) $522,231 * * 2003 (598,191) 598,191 * * 2004 (628,100) 628,100 * * 2005 (659,505) 659,505 * * 2006 (692,480) 692,480 * *************************************************************************** Technology Impact None. Fiscal Analysis The bill would allow the state to provide a supplemental salary for sheriffs in counties with a population of 10,000 or less and in which the sheriff's pay is less than one-third of the state salary for a district judge. The supplemental salary amount is not specified, but would be that provided in the General Appropriations Act. If the sheriff waives the supplemental salary, the amount provided from the General Appropriations Act would be used for expenses of the county sheriff's office. The bill would go into effect immediately if it receives the requisite two-thirds vote in both houses; otherwise, it would become effective September 1, 2001. Methodology The bill does not indicate how much supplemental pay the state would provide, whether there would be a limit, or that the state would pay whatever amount that would be necessary to bring the sheriff's salary up to the level of one-third of the district judge's salary. The bill does not specify that the supplement to the sheriff's salary would be limited to keeping the sheriff's salary no higher than one-third the district judge's salary; therefore, the possibility could exist that a sheriff's salary could be supplemented in an amount that would bring the salary to a level higher than one-third the district judge pay level, depending on what parameters the state would determine for supplementing pay, should the state decide to provide supplemental pay. The state pays a district judge $101,700 annually (not including benefits), one-third of which equals $33,900. According to the 2000 census, 90 Texas counties have a population of under 10,000. Of those 90 counties, 70 pay the sheriff less than $33,900, according to a salary survey of all sheriffs' departments that was conducted by the Texas Association of Counties (TAC). The smallest county in the state, Loving County, pays its sheriff $32,178 annually; however, county size does not appear to have an impact on what the sheriff is paid. The sheriff in Sherman County (population 3,186) is paid $33,780 and the sheriff in McCulloch County (population 8,205) is paid $25,000. For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that the state would provide supplemental pay, that the state would supplement the pay to the sheriffs in all 70 counties that meet the criteria, and that the supplement would be sufficient to bring each of those sheriffs' annual salary up to $33,900. Based on the current pay presented in the TAC salary survey, the sheriff's pay in each applicable county was subtracted from $33,900. The difference between $33,900 and those sheriffs' pay was then added together to determine that the state would be paying $522,231 in supplemental pay in the first full year of implementation. If the bill were to go into effect immediately, a start date of July 1, 2001 is assumed, and therefore one month's supplemental pay would be made (August 2001) in fiscal year 2001. If the bill were to go into effect on September 1, 2001, eleven months' supplemental pay would be made in fiscal year 2002. An annual increase of 5 percent each year thereafter would be assumed. Local Government Impact Under the assumption that the state would provide supplemental pay to the sheriff in each of the 70 counties with a population of 10,000 or less that pay their sheriff less than $33,900, the county would receive a revenue gain equivalent to the difference between the sheriff's current salary and $33,900 with a 5 percent increase each of the next five years, although the gain would pass through to the sheriff. Source Agencies: LBB Staff: JK, DB