Five constables in Lamar County are petitioning a grievance committee over a wage increase in their salaries. The constables are asking for an additional $5,000 each.
The quintet will make their case in Paris Thursday night before a nine-member grievance committee. The constables say they want their salaries to more closely align with salaries of other elected officials in Texas.
The grievance committee is made up of nine members who form a grand jury. That committee could compel the county to provide the raise. But all nine members of the committee will need to say yes. If six or more members vote yes, commissioners will be obligated revisit the issue will at a later date. But a unanimous round of yeses would compel the Commissioner’s Court to provide the raises.
The $5,000 represents about a 10 percent increase in pay, according to a letter from the constables to the grievance committee.