County officials eye deputy raises

Sheriff requests adopting pay plan

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County officials were unable to answer questions Thursday about increasing pay for Sheriff’s Office deputies, and left that night’s budget meeting with a plea to consider other employees as well.

Sheriff Tim Helder asked the Quorum Court’s Budget Committee to consider adopting a pay plan for deputies similar to the “step system’ used by the Fayetteville Police Department. Helder said the Sheriff’s Office can’t compete with the pay of the city department is is losing deputies, mostly younger ones, over the pay disparity.

“If they can get a $10,000 a year pay raise by going ‘across the street’ what’s a young person going to do?” Helder asked the justices of the peace. “They’re going to go!”

Helder proposed a plan with deputies on a pay scale separate from other employees with guaranteed increases in pay for their time in service at a given rank. The deputies wouldn’t be included in pay increases the Quorum Court might approve for other employees. Helder and his command staff said the Sheriff’s Office found savings of $690,000 in the law enforcement part of the budget to partly offset the estimated $983,000 cost of implementing the step program for the 2019 budget.

“That’s a net difference of about $300,000,” Helder said.

While all of the justices of the peace expressed their support for increasing the deputies’ pay, some said the overall budget concerns have to be considered at the same time.

“We don’t feel like we can afford it at this time because of the pressure on the budget,” Bill Ussery, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of the Budget Committee said during the discussion. Helder pressed Ussery to identify who he meant when he said “we”

and Ussery said he has discussed the proposal with Treasurer Bobby Hill and Shannon Worthen, comptroller.

Ussery suggested the county might implement the proposal over 2 to 4 years. Helder dismissed that suggestion.

“We’re going to be moving further and further away from the target,” Helder said of a four-year implementation period.

Helder said Fayetteville had to take money away from some areas to pay for their plan and the county may have to do the same. He said Arkansas ranks 51st nationally in the level of compensation for law enforcement officers.

“We are the worst state in America,” he said.

Ussery said adopting the new pay plan would require the county to “re-do our whole budget.”

Tom Lundstrum, justice of the peace for District 7, said a pay increase would still leave disparities in retirement pay, vacation time and sick time and bringing those county benefits to levels comparable to city departments would require hiring more deputies and adding still more costs.

“This pay raise is good, but it doesn’t solve the whole problem,” Lundstrum said.

The justices of the peace took no action on the proposal, asking Helder to bring them more detailed information about the changes to the 2019 budget if the plan were to be approved.

At the end of the meeting Carl Gales, chief of staff for County Judge Joseph Wood, asked the justices of the peace to consider other employees as well. Gales cited the Road Department and juvenile detention center as areas where the pay levels cause frequent turnover. He said the Road Department has a constant rate of vacant position of about 10 percent and the dentention center has about 13 percent of its staff positions vacant at any given time.

“If you adopt the policy that’s presented to you, let’s consider the entire workforce,” Gales said.