Texas AG says counties can spend COVID relief funds on extra pay for elected officials without public notice

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at a campaign event in May. Paxton this week said counties can likely use COVID-19 relief money to give elected officials what amounts to hazard pay without telling the public first. (Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune)

While Texas counties have to notify taxpayers before increasing elected officials’ salaries, they likely don’t have to have to give such advance notice when using federal COVID-19 relief funds for certain pay increases, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a nonbinding opinion this week.

Tyler County, located about 120 miles northeast of Houston, received more than $4 million in direct federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act last year. Now, elected or appointed county officials who have worked during the COVID-19 pandemic could each receive up to $25,000 of that funding.