Branick defends decision to cut deputy constables

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August 23, 2010

Anonymous The Port Arthur News The Port Arthur News Mon Aug 23, 2010, 03:32 PM CDT

Jeff Branick, assistant to the county judge for Jefferson County and the unopposed Democratic candidate for the county judge position in the November general election, has issued a letter dealing with the Commissioners Court’s proposal to cut the positions of nine deputy constables.

Here is Branick’s letter:

To The Editor:

During the past week several new voices have joined the debate over the wisdom of eliminating nine deputy constable positions from the Jefferson County budget. Unfortunately, I do not believe these voices have been informed of all the facts surrounding the making of this very difficult decision. I am certain that those who speak in support of the constables are motivated by a desire to help the deputies avoid the anxiety and uncertainty of having to find other employment. I can appreciate this. However, in considering what is best for the taxpayers of Jefferson County, I believe the Court made the correct decision.

The Constables have made several arguments which they believe justify the continued retention of these nine positions. First, they contend that public safety will suffer if the manpower in their offices is reduced. My question in response to this assertion is, how?

Is it with respect to traffic safety? If so, a quick review of statistics should allay these fears. During the past year 3 of the 6 constable precincts issued zero traffic citations. The other three together issued what would be, in comparison to a city traffic cop, only a handful of such citations. How about with respect to violent crime? How many rapes, burglaries, robberies or murders have the constables offices had reported to them during the past ten years which they investigated, solved and made arrests in? Again, the answer is, none.

Of course, the lack of law enforcement activity is not something I fault the constables for. Their job is not one primarily of public safety. This is meant to be performed by city police, the Highway Patrol and, in the unincorporated area, the Sheriff's Department. The Texas legislature recognized this when they passed certain provisions of the Local Government Code which specifically set forth the constable's duties, which are to act as bailiff for the Justice Courts and to serve papers.

This brings up the question of the workload with respect to the constable's statutorily defined duties. Year-over-year from 2003 through the present the combined number of papers for all constable precincts has dropped by more than 48%. During this same time period their staffs grew by 14%. I would note, however, that Constable Trahan in Precinct 4 saw a net increase in total papers received because of residential growth in and around Hamshire-Fannette. But this begs the question of how the Commissioner's Court could possibly justify continued increased spending of taxpayer funds for roughly half the workload? The following chart summarizes the number of papers served per deputy during each year from 2003-2009.



                Pct 1       Pct 2      Pct 4     Pct 6     Pct 7      Pct 8

2003       2071       1221      772        1834     1257      904

2004       1745       955        595        1410     972         737

2005       1856       941        733        1607     966         639

2006       1701       881        988        1380     1014     630

2007      1289    879        1300    1360     778           597

2008       1145      528        700        909       631          559

2009       1137       563        690      706       533           548

Again, I do not blame the constables for this reduced workload. I believe it is a function of reduced court filings due to tort reform and alternative dispute resolution procedures and by the decision of many local law firms to utilize the services of private process servers rather than constables. However, from this chart we can glean several important facts. First, from looking at the 2003 numbers for Precinct 1 we can discern that deputy constables are capable of serving a little over 2000 papers per year. Second, we can see an almost uniform decline year-over-year in the workload of each precinct. I am assuming that the slight uptick in the number of papers served in 2006 by 3 of the 6 precincts was due to claims filed against insurance companies as a result of Hurricane Rita damages. However, one thing is clear, the workloads have decreased dramatically and the staffs have not.

As an analogy I will use the Commissioners. Each Jefferson County Commissioner has approximately 100 miles of roads and bridges that he is responsible for maintaining. Further, each Commissioner has a road and bridge crew made up of approximately 14 individuals to maintain these roads and bridges. If tomorrow each Commissioner's road mileage was magically reduced in half to 50 miles per precinct, would the Commissioner's Court be wisely spending taxpayer funds by maintaining a full compliment of 14 road and bridge crew workers?

Lastly, the constables contend that their workloads will increase as a result of a deal they recently solicited from the Texas Attorney General's Office for service of their documents. During the past 8 years the constable's offices have cost the taxpayers over $15 million considering expenditures over revenues. This loss came despite the fact that the County charges $60 for service of process in civil actions. The deal cut by the constables with the AG's office calls for the county to collect, effectively, less than $40 for service of each paper received from the AG. I fail to see how making an agreement to serve documents for a fee that is far below the County's cost of service makes good economic sense.

I do not relish the idea of anyone losing their job and having to go through the anxiety associated with finding another one. However, I believe that sound financial management dictates that whether we are in a good budget year or a bad one, the Commissioner's Court's duties to the taxpayers mandate that they adjust budgetary allowances for staffing levels to coincide with true workloads. Any other approach smells of political expedience.

Jeff Branick

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Branick defends decision to cut deputy constables

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