Friday, April 26, 2024
It will likely be a special holiday season for Hood County deputies and their families, even those deputies scheduled to work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Thanks to a vote this week by the Commissioners Court, they’ll be getting paid for those hours.
Due to no overtime and the Sheriff’s Office being consistently understaffed, deputies have racked up comp time with little hope of ever being able to use it.
But in the coming days, SO employees will not only be paid for any comp time they have accumulated over 20 hours, but they will also see pay increases.
At its regular meeting Tuesday, the Commissioners Court approved a new pay scale for deputies, corporals/investigators, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and the chief deputy.
The raises will go into effect Nov. 21, when a new pay period starts.
The salary for a first-year deputy will go from $51,000 to $60,000.
The court took the action after Sheriff Roger Deeds sounded the alarm that public safety is at risk because he is losing deputies due to low pay.
The new pay scale and the payment of comp time will likely not be the only action taken to boost hiring and retention at the SO.
Perks such as overtime pay, holiday pay and take-home cars will probably be discussed in a future workshop.
The new pay scale approved by the court brings the $3,967,452 budgeted for payroll to $4,493,786, a difference of $526,334.
The extra money will come from Fund Balance, a pool of money that was not used during the previous fiscal year.
The court will have to find a way to budget for that increase in the next budget cycle.
The comp time payout will be handled separately from the pay increases. The money will not come from county coffers but rather from federal pandemic-related dollars.
For comp time accumulated during 2020 and 2021, money provided through the American Rescue Plan Act will be used.
Comp time accumulated after that will be covered by CARES Act funds.
Since the comp time issue was not on the agenda, a workshop will be held to firm up details.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Ron Cotton told the Hood County News that the workshop would be scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Justice Center.
During the discussion at the Commissioners Court meeting, Deeds expressed appreciation to Precinct 1 Commissioner Kevin Andrews for the time he spent working with the department to find a solution.
Deeds told the HCN in an email, “With having eight openings in patrol and five (undergoing) background checks (with) other agencies, I am very happy now, and we should be able to start receiving applications again.
He continued, “Patrol and other deputies are getting overwhelmed by calls for service, so this is helping morale greatly and will get us going back in the right direction. This is a great raise to help compete with the shrinking willing workforce.”
