President’s Corner
By Robert Goerlitz
President, HCDO
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS RENEGE ON PROMISED PAY & BENEFITS
As president of the Harris County Deputies’ Organization I am privileged to serve a unique and elite group of men and women who have chosen law enforcement as their life’s profession.
Most deputies—indeed most police officers—do not get in the law enforcement business for the money. Most qualify for and many others leave better paying jobs to be police officers, and then work second or third jobs for the privilege of serving the community.
Police officers belong to an elite fraternity because only 5% of the people who apply for the job qualify, and because we are in the small minority of people who put on bullet-proof vests before reporting to work each day.
Most deputies look forward to putting on that vest, badge and gun and reporting to duty, and never complain so long as we are appreciated, treated fairly, and our compensation is at least reasonably comparative to that of surrounding agencies.
But in the last few years we have seen our pay and benefits progressively deteriorating. When the economy was good, the reduced pay and benefits showed up in the difficulty the recruiting divisions had finding new qualified candidates. Those who qualified were more likely to apply first to the Houston Police Department or other agencies with better benefits and greater stability.
Since the downturn started—indeed since Sheriff Adrian Garcia took office in 2009—we have not seen any pay increase; in fact, county commissioners have decreased our pay incentives—the money they promised would be there when we reached certain levels of training and tenure—and they laid off deputies to make the ends of a tight budget meet.
Immediately after the mid year review, the Harris County Commissioners Court struck the most severe blow to date when they voted to decrease our pensions by making retirees pay $115 a month for retiree healthcare. The retired deputies—who have never seen a COLA increase—are living on fixed incomes that take an inflation hit every year.
Now retired deputies who came to work for the county decades ago were told a policeman’s pay was less than what skilled craftsmen and others make, but our retirement was pretty good, and that was something no one could take away from us. As recently as the last annual retirement seminar deputies eligible to retire were told that Harris County would carry their retirement until age 65, at which time they would qualify for Medicare, and the county would be the secondary insurance. Now that they are too old to change courses, these retired deputies are receiving notices the commissioners court has found a way to renege on that promise.
Harris County commissioners are following a national trend: treating police officers, firefighters, and other public servants as pariah. Fifteen years ago sheriffs and police chiefs in large agencies across the nation complained that there was a shortage of qualified applicants for new-hires. Once the economy improves Harris County law enforcement will face an increased crisis to replace those leaving each week. When these agencies can hire again, we fear that no one will want to become a Harris County Deputy because our commissioners have reneged on too many promises.
The principal tenant to good government is efficiency and competence. The cyclical turnover caused by instability and commissioners reneging on promises is not good for law enforcement and not good for Harris County.