At Wednesday’s budget hearing for 2023, Sheriff Jim Hammond asked the County Commission for a $6.4 million budget increase from last year. Sheriff Hammond said his request comes from a need for salary increases. He said the budget increase would provide raises of $4.81 per hour or $10,000 a year.
“I cannot stress to you enough about what is going on with the Sheriff’s Department in terms of the ability to hire, train and retain to ensure that we have certified officers and correctional officers,” said Sheriff Hammond.
“We have been aggressive in our recruitment for the last year and have advertised through every means possible.”
Sheriff Hammond said there are currently 69 openings in the jail. In fact, he said they lose people quicker than they bring them in. Human Resources Director for the Sheriff’s Office Ron Bernard said since Jan. 1, 2021, they have hired 91 and lost 101 employees.
“There is no way, with that kind of shortage, you can watch every prisoner and what’s going on,” said Sheriff Hammond. “It is apparent, I cannot stress it enough, that I have the money to be able to reach out and attract the type of correctional and patrol officers that I am going to need.”
Sheriff Hammond said including other divisions there is a shortage of 85 employees. He said the current starting pay is not attractive to applicants and that “you can get a job at McDonald’s for a higher wage and safer conditions.” Sheriff Hammond said most of the employees rate fairly high in the satisfaction of the job they do but what is more negative than anything is the safety.
“This is not new to us, salary is one piece of it but we can’t even get people to walk in the door,” said Commissioner Katherlyn Geter. “Throwing money at this is just putting a bandaid over it so there has to be other reasons.”
Ms. Geter said she thinks part of the problem is the reputation of the jail. She asked what they are doing to prove that it is a worthwhile place to work. Sheriff Hammond said they follow the same procedures as other counties. He also said they offer “excellent” benefits but the problem is that “young people are only concerned with salary” and “they walk out when they see something they don’t like.”
Commissioner David Sharpe said taxes would need to be raised in order to generate the $6.4 million. But, he said there is about $8.4 million in savings from this year that they are not currently using.
“I’m not saying that I wouldn’t be supportive of the pay increase or the package that it would require to accommodate that but I’m of the opinion that we should use what we have before we go asking for more,” said Mr. Sharpe. “It seems to me that we have the money already budgeted that we could use and not have to go to the citizens of this county for a tax increase until we actually have to and I think that would be the responsible approach, personally.”
Using this year’s savings for this purpose is possible however, “they would be using fund balance for next year’s operating cost which sets a very dangerous financial precedent,” according to the Administrator of Finance, Lee H. Brouner.
One commissioner asked what the likelihood is that positions will be filled. Sheriff Hammond said he does not know and it is a ‘roll of the dice” due to the state of the nation’s problems like the pandemic. He said the problem is “the culture” of young people whose lives are funded in other ways.