If you serve on a jury in Karnes County, don’t expect to get paid for it any time soon.

The county treasurer’s office owes money to all of the three juries that have served this year, but they say there’s not enough time to write the checks.

"As of right now, I’m the only one in the office. The juries are kind of just something that, you know - I mean I really don’t know what to tell you. You might want to call the judge," Deputy Treasurer Lisa Zapata said.

County Treasurer Nancy Duckett has been out for months due to illness and Zapata said she’s struggling to keep up going at it alone.

County resident Philip Sifuentes was one of the people who served on a jury back in January. He says he and several of the other jurors have been blown off.

"Keep in mind, some of these people are hourly wage manual laborers," Sifuentes said of the 12 jurors that served.

Sifuentes said he had several conversations with the treasurer’s office going back to early March.

"She (Zapata) said she still hadn’t gotten to it, ‘that’s not a priority of ours,’ that ‘we’ve got other stuff going on.’ Some of these people’s lives have been put off track. They miss a week of work on an hourly wage, that’s a lot of money to people," he said.

County Judge Alger Kendall, Jr. agreed there was a problem in the office, offering that one person has been expected to do the work of two since January this year.

"She is by herself at the present time. Nancy Duckett is on sick leave, I guess you’d call it. Lisa had talked to me last week. She has told me she will get the checks done some time within the next week or ten days," Kendall said. "The Commissioners Court is aware of the situation and we’re hoping that Nancy would be able to come back very quickly. If not … well … we just need to hear from her and her doctors. I hope that we hear something up or down this month."

Kendall said the commissioners have tried hiring extra help for the office, but have been unsuccessful retaining an employee.

In Wilson County, citizens are paid their $6 the same day when they show up to jury selection. Selected jurors are paid their $40-a-day wage within a few days of completing their service, according to Wilson County Treasurer Jan Hartl.

"After their date of service, then we cut them a check. Like today, we selected a jury today, the district clerk brought me down a list of jurors, and she said this jury is predicted to take four to five days. When she calls me and lets me know (when their last day of service is), then we cut the check and send it to them," Hartl said.

The rates of pay are the same in Karnes County (and the same state-wide), but jurors here have been having to wait many months longer to receive compensation.