SAN ANTONIO – In a unanimous vote Thursday, Bexar County Commissioners agreed to pay $11,969 to the members of two grand juries — that amounts to an additional $65 dollars per week for each juror.
Though some have called it hazard pay, commissioners have now labeled it as ‘supplemental pay.'
The juries, who had been serving when the pandemic hit and a moratorium was ordered on jury service in mid-March, agreed to serve an additional two-month term.
”I think it was justified in the sense that these people went above and beyond,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez said as he discussed the supplemental pay. ”But for their willingness to step up, then we may have had people that may not get indicted on charges that were very serious.”
The hazard pay proposal was initially presented to commissioners last week by Local Administrative Judge Ron Rangel.