PRESIDIO — Tension flared briefly at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Presidio County Commissioners Court over a proposal brought by 394th District Judge Monty Kimball requesting $10,692.24 for a second assistant. Precinct 1 Commissioner Deirdre Hisler and Precinct 4 Commissioner David Beebe were vocally opposed to the proposal, which failed after Precinct 3 Commissioner Frankie Ortiz joined them in a “nay” vote.
Had the plan been successful, Presidio County would have joined in an interlocal agreement with the other counties represented by the court — Brewster, Jeff Davis, Culberson and Hudspeth — to split the cost of a new administrative assistant for the court according to a formula based on caseload per county. According to County Judge Joe Portillo, Kimball, who took office in January had approached each judge for help, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of administrative backlog left over from the transition. “He needs another assistant to help him accomplish his goals,” Portillo explained.
The 394th District Court hears felonies and civil suits from across the massive five-county area. Prior to running for judge, Kimball was a retired attorney of 32 years, but threw his hat in the ring for a chance to serve his community in a courtroom one last time. “I’ve still got a lot of gas left in the tank,” he told The Sentinel during last spring’s election season.
Even after years of ruthless budget negotiations, Presidio County still runs a deficit budget. The commissioners have worked together over the years to cut corners where necessary, but slow tax roll growth has limited the local government’s ability to balance their books.
A particularly sore subject has been employee pay. While the county wants to attract talent and reward loyal team members, the tight budget has meant that cost of living adjustments over the past few years have been bare bones, and offices without access to grant opportunities like Operation Lone Star have to make do with what they have.
At $50,000, the proposed new district court assistant salary would have out-earned the vast majority of Presidio County employees, apart from the sheriff, the judge and the county attorney.
Commissioner Beebe didn’t understand why Kimball needed another assistant so urgently without demonstrating a significant uptick in caseload, pointing out that each county has a district clerk that helps shoulder some of the burden of the court’s work. He formerly served as a justice of the peace, making around $34,000 a year to be on-call 24/7, and wondered why anyone would run for office knowing the financial constraints of the five small, isolated counties that make up the court. “Maybe [Kimball] should have looked at the responsibilities of the job and realized that it’s really difficult,” he said.
County Judge Joe Portillo, who supported the proposition, said that $50,000 a year was a significant lowball in the legal industry, where six figures and beyond are common. He felt that there might be some way to make it work for the county. “We have a healthy reserve,” he said.
Beebe told The Sentinel that he still didn’t think it was fair. “That rate is far above what our salary schedule would permit, and I can’t face my people and say that’s okay,” he said. “[Kimball] has the right to decide what he wants to pay his people, but he also has to get approval from our commissioners court.”
Lori Holguin, 394th District Court coordinator, declined to comment on the matter while Kimball was recalibrating his request to the counties but said that she planned to have more information available in time for the next Presidio County Commissioners Court meeting.