The Courier of Montgomery County reports that Thursday the Conroe City Council did not approve of a plan to bring police officer pay in line with others in the region. The move would have required the tax rate to go up. Instead, however, the council approved a 6% cost-of-living raise for all employees.
Approved by a vote of 3 to 2, the tax rate will stay at 42.72 cents per $100 property value. Councilmembers Harry Hardman and David Hairel were the nay votes on the matter.
The council approved the cost-of-living raise in a separate 3 to 2 vote. Mayor Pro Tem Howard Wood and Hairel were the nay votes.
In order to achieve pay parity for officers compared to agencies in the region, city leaders had looked at moving the tax rate up to $46.13% which is the highest it could go without approval from voters.
The discussion on the move to a higher tax rate was influenced by Montgomery County’s proposal to boost pay $10,000 for all county law enforcement. The boost would bring the pay similar to the pay in the city of Houston.
A proposal by Mayor Duke Coon suggested that the council continue the 42.72 cents and offer police with a 10% cost-of-living raise, along with a 3% raise for all other employees.
Wood made a motion to approve the mayor’s plan but it died for the lack of a second.
