Good for Texas Tour: Rural Law Enforcement Grant Program Statewide Overview
Introduction
In 2023, the Texas Legislature established the Rural Law Enforcement Grant Program to provide supplemental salary assistance to sheriff’s departments, constable’s offices, and district and county attorney’s offices in “rural” areas of the state. The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts was required to adopt the necessary rules to administer the grant program, including a standardized application process and forms, the manner of submitting the application, deadlines to apply, disbursement of grant money, spending of grant money, procedures for monitoring the disbursement of grant money, and the return of grant money that was not used for a permissible purpose.
Grant Eligibility
Sheriff’s offices and constable’s offices in counties with a population of 300,000 or less are eligible for the grant program; prosecutor’s offices in jurisdictions with populations of 300,000 or less qualify to apply for grant funding. Of Texas’ 254 counties, 236 counties are eligible for the sheriff’s and constable‘s grants (Exhibit 1). Some district attorney districts cover more than one county. In those cases, the Comptroller’s office totals the populations of all counties to make the determination of the grant amount.
Exhibit 1 Texas Counties with Populations of 300,000 or Less
Note: Grant eligibility is based on population from 2020 Census data.
Source: Texas Demographic Center
Funding amounts vary among the eligible law enforcement entities and are dependent on the size of the county or jurisdiction (Exhibit 2).
Exhibit 2
Rural Law Enforcement Offices’ Grant Amounts and Population Requirements
Law Enforcement Offices
Grant Amount
Population Requirement
Sheriff’s Offices
$250,000
Less than 10,000
$350,000
10,000 or more but less than 50,000
$500,000
50,000 or more but less than 300,000
Prosecutor's Offices
$100,000
Less than 10,000
$175,000
10,000 or more but less than 50,000
$275,000
50,000 or more but less than 300,000
Constable's Offices
Varies
Less than 300,000
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Permissible Grant Expenditures
Permissible expenditures of the grant funds must follow strict guidelines. These guidelines differ among the law enforcement entities. Importantly, a county may not reduce the amount of funds provided to the law enforcement entities because of grant funds.
Sheriff’s offices
Sheriff’s offices can use grant funds for supplemental salary assistance and for the purchase of safety equipment, vehicles and firearms. Before purchasing such equipment, however, the office must provide a minimum salary of at least:
$75,000 for the county sheriff;
$45,000 for each deputy who makes motor vehicle stops in the routine performance of their duties; and
$40,000 for each jailer whose duties include the safekeeping of prisoners and the security of a jail operated by the county.
Sheriff’s offices must fully fund the minimum required salary increases (sheriff, deputies and jailers) before they can spend the money on these additional expenditures. Once they’ve met that requirement, they can use the remaining grant funds on other allowable expenditures, such as hiring additional deputies or staff for the office. However, they cannot give raises to anyone who currently works in the office outside of the sheriff, deputies and jailers.
Constable’s offices
Grant money for constable’s offices must be used to provide a minimum salary of $45,000 to a qualified constable. To receive funding, the county must contribute at least 75 percent of the money required to meet the minimum annual salary, and the other 25 percent will come from the grant funds. If the constable is already making above the minimum salary, then the county is not eligible for the grant.
A qualified constable is defined by the following standards:
is elected to, and currently holds, an office created before Jan. 1, 2023;
primarily (more than 50 percent of the time) makes motor vehicle stops in the routine performance of their duties; and
Permissible expenditures for a qualified prosecutor’s office include increases in salary of an assistant attorney, investigator or victim assistance coordinator. The funds can also be used to hire additional staff for the office.
Application Process
The county judge must apply for the grants on behalf of sheriff’s offices and constable’s offices. For the prosecutor’s grant program, the prosecutor — county judge, district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county and district attorney — must apply for the grant in their own respective office. A list of application requirements is available on the Comptroller’s website.
The first grant application cycle took place Jan. 1-31, 2024. All qualified counties and prosecutor’s offices could apply for the grant funding during this period, regardless of their fiscal year start date. For the second round of grant applications, a county or prosecutor’s office must apply for grants within 60 days prior to each office’s fiscal year start date, extending to no later than 30 days after that date (Exhibit 3). By law, failure to meet the deadline means that qualified office will have to wait until the next fiscal year to apply.
Exhibit 3
Filing Period for Second Round of Grant Applications
Fiscal Year Start
Open date
Close date
Oct. 1
Aug. 2, 2024
Oct. 31, 2024
Jan. 1
Nov. 2, 2024
Jan. 31, 2025
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Compliance Report
No later than 31 days following the law enforcement entity’s end of the fiscal year, the entity is required to submit an electronic compliance report with the Comptroller’s office. This report provides the agency with documents — such as invoices, purchase orders and payroll — to ensure compliance with grant allowances in the law. If the county or office has leftover or misspent funds, it must return the money to the Comptroller’s office following the review.
First Year Grant Data
The Legislature allocated $330 million to the Rural Law Enforcement Grant Program for the 2024-25 biennium budget. At the close of the state’s fiscal year, the Comptroller’s office published final grant distribution amounts for the first round of applications and which counties received grants. In total, nearly $126 million was awarded to 502 grant recipients (Exhibit 4).
Exhibit 4
Rural Law Enforcement Grant Application and Amount Totals
