Sheriff: OT policy working

HOT SPRINGS — Some Garland County sheriff’s deputies have bristled at an overtime policy the county put into effect last month, Sheriff Mike McCormick told justices of the peace last week.

Their discontent notwithstanding, McCormick said the decision to grant time-and-ahalf pay for hours earned in excess of the regular work week instead of paid time off has bolstered manpower on patrol shifts and at the county jail.

The Garland County Quorum Court appropriated $44,791 in May to pay out 1,956 hours of compensatory time accrued by department personnel and $111,797 for 5,432 hours accrued by jail staff members.

“It’s had the desired effect that I was hoping it would have at the sheriff’s department,” McCormick told the county Finance Committee. “We’re having more people working the streets, and we’re having more detention deputies that actually have feet on the ground out at the detention center.

“That was one of the issues we were having. People were building up so much comp time and taking so much comp time, it was leaving shifts light. And it has in a great way alleviated a lot of that.”

McCormick said some deputies are still adjusting to working more days under the new policy. The department uses an 86-hour, two-week period to calculate overtime for public safety personnel, having previously used a 171-hour, 28-day range.

The new policy also exempts lieutenants from overtime pay, prompting the Quorum Court to approve a $2,000 annual pay raise in May for nine lieutenant positions at the department and jail.

“A lot of people are not happy with it,” McCormick said, responding to a committee member who asked how the policy was being received. “Those are the ones who were utilizing comp time to take every third or fourth day off. Now they’re having to report to work, and that’s where the problem is. They’d rather have the time off.”

The county paid $2,511 for sheriff’s office overtime in June and $2,767 for overtime at the jail.

For the month, $13,590 in overtime was paid for all county employees, including $3,717 the county will be partially reimbursed for through its participation in the Selective Traffic Enforcement Grant administered by the Arkansas State Police’s Highway Safety Office. The grant helps pay overtime deputies accrue while enforcing traffic laws.