County Approves Employee Furlough Days, Other Cost-Cutting Measures

In order to meet County of El Paso budget demands, Commissioner’s Court approved three furlough days today for all County employees for next fiscal year.

In addition, the County Judge’s salary was cut from about $98,000 per year to $74,000 per year. Some commissioners also had their salaries sliced by more than $3,000.

After a lengthy discussion, County Court and District Court judges were asked to bite the bullet, as well. All judges will take a salary cut of more than $900, or the equivalent of three furlough days.

All County and District judges are also being asked to expand their workload to include jail annex magistrate duties and the absorbing of cases from County Court No. 3, if needed. Judge Javier Alvarez may receive a federal judge appointment come November and the County could choose to dissolve the court until the next general election in two years.

The dissolving of County Court No. 3 would save the county $400,000 next fiscal year. The County’s original budget deficit totalled $14 million.