After receiving recent raises, Fort Bend County's sheriff asks for more deputy money

RICHMOND, Texas (KTRK) -- After receiving recent raises, Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan wants deputies to get even more money.

The ripple of what happened in Houston continues to be felt around law enforcement agencies across southeast Texas. Earlier this year, HPD received a more than 30% pay increase.

Now, Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan wants a pay bump after he said Harris County and Montgomery County increased pay to be more competitive after what HPD did.

"Their salaries are over $20,000 more than my deputies', and the constable deputies are making right now," Fagan explained. "We just want to be competitive."

Since taking office, Fagan's deputies have received pay increases. Deputies make nearly 40% more than they did four years ago.

That includes a 22% raise from last year. Now, Fagan wants upwards of a seven percent raise.

The sheriff's office says that would take a starting deputy's salary from $68,000 to $73,000. Fagan has also recently received a raise.

Last year, commissioners increased his salary from $165,000 to nearly $200,000. ABC13 asked him if he'd ask for another raise.

"If they give them raises and don't give me one, I won't be crying about it," Fagan said.

Not everyone's on board with the raises. Precinct One Constable Chad Norvell was absent from the news conference.

He told ABC13 the raises deputies received recently have made a difference, and he doesn't want to ask taxpayers for more money. While there are mixed feelings amongst local enforcement, it's unclear how commissioners feel about it.

Commissioner Vincent Morales told ABC13 no comment.

"The safety and security of Fort Bend County residents is a top priority for me and members of Commissioners Court. Therefore, I requested that a salary study of law enforcement officers be conducted last year, which led to over $10.2 million in raises in 2024-25, averaging 20% salary increases. This is in addition to consecutive cost-of-living adjustments that were made in 2022 and 2023. I've also consistently asked the county's HR department to work with the sheriff and constables to conduct annual salary reviews to ensure that salaries remain competitive. Our law enforcement officers, as well as taxpayers, deserve a thoughtful and disciplined budgeting process that leads to sustainable, competitive compensation," Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said.

Judge KP George's spokesperson told us he's available on Thursday to talk about this. At this point, neither Fagan nor other county leaders have said how the county would afford the raises.

If approved, deputies' pay would increase on average by nearly ten percent every year since 2021. That's more than double what federal data shows the average worker saw for a pay increase.

"The men and women who risk their lives, how much would you say they deserve? 4%? 10%? How much is your life worth?" Fagan said.

There isn't a lot of time to get this done. The county has to have a budget in place by October.

ABC13 asked the sheriff's office if the pay increase was part of its budget proposal. The spokesperson told us the proposal includes a 5% deputy raise, but the sheriff would like to see it as high as 10% to be competitive with other agencies.

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