GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE REJECTS SYLVIA GARZA-PEREZ RAISE BY 7-1 MARGIN

 

Cameron County Clerk Sylvia Garza-Perez

After a ten minute delay while determining if they had a quorum, 8 citizens, selected from among the grand jury pool, 5 women and 3 men, listened keenly to Cameron County Clerk Sylvia Garza-Perez make a pitch for an additional $8,000 in annual salary.

Garza-Perez, the only county official to so far file a grievance for a salary increase during a limited window, maximized the scope of her department's work in licensing, preserving documents carefully and making information readily available online.

The county clerk emphasized that she ran three offices with 8 supervisors and 36 employees, several who'd passed leadership courses and volunteered with United Way.

When the Grievance Committee returned from Executive Session they were given three options by County Judge Eddie Trevino; make a motion for approval or disapproval of the $8,000 raise or make a motion for a different raise.

A motion was made to disallow the raise and that motion was approved 7-1.

Prior to the meeting, Ana and I found the County Clerk alone in chambers working on her presentation.  She told us about technical changes that made it easier for citizens to access information in her department.  We also discussed the 72 hour waiting period after obtaining a marriage license.  

ADDENDUM:  We asked Sylvia Garza-Perez about the proposed $22,000 salary increase for her office that came up at last month's commissioners meeting.

"That was not my doing.  That came from the commissioners.  I was going to ask for a $15,000 increase, then settle for $8,000.  You know how that goes,"  Sylvia told us.

When I questioned her about whether or not the money was actually in the budget for raises for officials, she said the commissioners kept her in the dark about the numbers.