$10M to Increase Pay for Selected Law Enforcement in Rural Counties

Twelve (12) North Central Texas county sheriffs and 18 county and district prosecutor’s offices will receive $9.825M in rural law enforcement grants to increase pay for selected law enforcement personnel. The funding is made available under Texas Senate Bill 22 (SB 22) for counties with 300,000 or fewer residents. Awarded agencies include Sheriff’s offices, and District and County Attorney’s offices in Ellis, Erath, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Sommervell, and Wise counties.

Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas (WSNCT) executive director Phedra Redifer says, “Rural counties in North Central Texas have a shared and significant challenge recruiting and retaining law enforcement personnel. To help address these challenges, WSNCT partnered with the State Comptroller’s Office to host SB 22 grant workshops for our county sheriffs, prosecutors, and district attorneys. We are thrilled to announce that because of that proactive effort, each of our eligible counties were awarded funding for both the sheriff’s offices and prosecutor’s offices grants in just 90 days!As our region grows, ensuring professional law enforcement and legal representation of the people’s interests will continue to be important for North Central Texas.”

Counties awarded funding for sheriff’s offices must use the grant funds to: provide a minimum annual salary of $75,000 for a county sheriff; $45,000 for each deputy who makes motor vehicle stops in the routine performance of their duties; $40,000 for each jailer whose duties include the safekeeping of prisoners and the security of a jail operated by the county; increase the salary of those listed above; hire additional deputies or staff for the sheriff ’s office; and, purchase vehicles, firearms and safety equipment for the sheriff’s office.

District and County Prosecutors awarded grant funds from SB 22 must use the grant money to: increase the salary of an assistant attorney, an investigator or a victim assistance coordinator employed at the office; or, hire additional staff for the office.

A complete list of awarded North Central Texas agencies is available here.