At a Thursday afternoon, July 18 work session of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, the board finally had a discussion it had been putting off for a long time: whether or not to raise the pay of sheriff’s deputies and detention officers, and, if so, by how much, and – if so on top of that – whether or not the pay for detention officers should be the same as that of officers in the field, all else being equal.
The board had a lengthy and detailed give and take with each other and with Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers – who was there, of course, advocating for higher pay.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners did add $2 million in the 2024 budget to up the pay of deputies; however, that was just a nod toward addressing the pay issue and there seems to be widespread agreement on the board that the officer pay needs to be raised since vacancy rates have been high and the Sheriff’s Office wants to stop deputies and detention officers from jumping ship to other area law enforcement agencies.
Guilford County Commissioner Pat Tillman has said repeatedly over the last several months – in which the new Guilford County budget was formed – that the pay of the county’s deputies and detention officers needed to be increased; and he made that point forcefully last month on Thursday, June 20, when the commissioners adopted a budget for fiscal year 2024-2025.
“The glaring piece that I view as missing [in the budget] is sheriffs’ pay,” Tillman said right after the budget was adopted. “We need to take that up as soon as we can.”
The issue was therefore put on the agenda for the July 18 work session, but, even though a discussion was had, there was no decision made.
At that work session, one of the fundamental areas of disagreement between the sheriff and some commissioners was whether, in addition to added pay for the deputies and detention officers, the county should also bring the pay of detention officers up to the level of the officers in the field.
Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said at the meeting that, while he certainly didn’t want to take anything away from the difficulty, importance and dangers of detention officer jobs, there was a rationale as to why officers in the field should get higher pay.
“They have to go through additional training,” Alston said of those officers patrolling the streets. “And, while there are dangers in being a detention officer, the officers in the field don’t know if someone has a gun or a knife or some other weapon.”
Rogers remained adamant throughout the discussion that he really wanted the pay of the jail guards and patrol officers to be on an identical scale. The commissioners – who are already trying to find the money to raise the pay – knew it would be an even more expensive proposition to throw in the mix bringing detention officer pay up to the level of patrol officers.
For years and years, there’s been a major detention officer vacancy problem for the department. That is no doubt one reason Rogers wants to see the pay equalized.
At the work session, the commissioners discussed adding somewhere in the range of an additional $6 million to $12 million annually to the Sheriff’s Office budget for pay increases, however, that $12 million number is something of a pie-in-the-sky number.
There was a lot of agreement among commissioners that they wouldn’t be able to find that much money given the county’s other needs and current revenue.
The board plans to implement the coming pay hikes for sheriff’s deputies and the detention officers in the two county jails during the first pay period in October of this year – therefore, they did not make an immediate decision at the afternoon meeting.
Alston told the Rhino Times after the work session that, since any pay increase won’t be implemented until the fall, the commissioners had some time to look at the financial numbers and discuss the matter further.
The board discussed where the money should come from once it’s decided how much pay should be increased.
Alston pointed out that Guilford County Manager Mike Halford had budgeted $10 million for an “Integrated Data Project” but the manager was not calling for much of that $10 million to be used until several years from now.
“That money is just sitting there,” Alston said at the work session.
That Integrated Data Project is a widescale effort to integrate county services and records and make the delivery of county services more efficient. It has been something Halford has been pushing for years, but, frankly, there’s a lot of confusion among board members – and among others – as to exactly what the project entails and what benefits it will bring. County management is very high on the project but so far hasn’t done a good job explaining exactly what it is.
Commissioner Carly Cooke made a request to county staff – bring back specific information to the board giving a detailed view of the benefits of that program since it’s going to cost $10 million. That was a smart move since there is a lot of confusion around that project among the commissioners.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners looked at other pots of money that could be available; however, Halford, who was the county’s budget director for about two decades before becoming county manager, gave – several times during the work session – the commissioners an admonition that’s something of a cornerstone of good local government financing: Do not use one-time funds for recurring expenses.
If you spend $6 million to buy a building using one-time funds, that’s OK because you won’t see that cost again. However, when it comes to things like salaries, boards must be very careful about using one-time funds because the cost of salaries will recur every year, while there will be no recurring source of revenue attached.
Using “one-time” money for funding salaries would cover the cost of the current fiscal year for officer pay from October to June 30, But the county commissioners would then have to find the extra money somewhere next summer for the 2025-2026 fiscal budget. And they would have to do that every year until they identified and connected a repeating revenue source.
All BS out of Skip and commissioners mouths. Pet projects have been proven to be more important. You voted them in…enjoy!
So true JV and skips downtown money pit is the #1 on the list for stealing TAXPAYER dollars. Keep losing over your shoulder Skip, KARMA is coming and one day you’ll suffer the wrath
I’m not advocating more or less pay for anyone, but I can’t let this slide. This is one of those times when Skip should have kept his mouth shut instead of showing his ignorance. Ask Sheldon Kaminski which of those jobs is more dangerous. He worked 30 years on the street and suffered permanent and life altering injuries, darn near lost his life working as a Detention Officer in the Guilford County Jail. Why don’t you study where the most injuries and assaults on your officers occur before making a blanket statement about training, guns or knives. Maybe study those incidents where guns and knives are in fact brought into the Guilford County jails endangering those Officers even further, especially when they themselves are unarmed with no place to go to get away from it if something should go sideways. I already see a long line of speakers from the floor forming at your next board meeting. Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Great point. I would assume detention center far more dangerous on a ‘typical’ day given the continuous contact with often aggressive criminals.
Why would the commissioners would rather GIVE money to their “pet” projects, individuals and BS companies then pay those who protect us. One day a commissioner requires assistance and is unable to receive same for them or a family member? Who’s fault? They are looking more and more like the GSO city council!
Good analogy Glenn, but shouldn’t you have included the top level leadership of a not to be named LEA?
My first act as Sheriff was to increase detention pay to be equal to that of a patrol officer. Their job was just as intense, just as dangerous as being on the street. It used to be all deputies were sworn. Someone long ago decided a separate career path as a detention officer would allow for shorter training and less pay. It was a bad move. As sheriff I opened up a way to go from the jail to the field and transfered many good officers to the field. Trying to pay them less is an insult and ill advised. I hope the commissioners can see that. Take some of the money from Rogers, he’s not earning it, but wasting plenty on cars, car graphics, hats and new badges to name a few things. Nothing was wrong with the old ones. Esse Quam Videri.
These Commissioners need to come inside the Jail for several days to see what Detention Officers put up with.
Cops and firefighters have the safest jobs in America. This media hype nonsense of how dangerous it is, is all bs. The public is sick of hearing of what great heroes these people are, it’s just not true.
Let me see if I understand this using their line of reasoning of ALL the County Commissars…we can give tax-payer money to non-profits, throw money to the school system for them to bank but not use to fix our children’s schools and education system but not fix the County EMS and tell the County Deputies ‘oh, I’m sorry. We are out of money so we really can’t give you even a small raise, but hey, you just keep doing the job, In fact, we really need you to do it better.’
As a conservative I hate to do this, but “The glaring piece that I view as missing [in the budget] is sheriffs’ pay,” Tillman said right after the budget was adopted. “We need to take that up as soon as we can.”
My question to you Pat is if you felt this way WHY DID YOU VOTE TO APPROVE THE BUDGET? Yes it still would have passed, but at least you and Alan would not look like hypocrites.
I’m sorry and I know people are P.O.ed at me for saying that but you are supposed to be representing us. If you do, show it.
Spot on!