Sedgwick County Commissioners have voted unanimously to approve a long-range pay plan for deputies in the Sheriff’s Office and the jail.
Sheriff Jeff Easter talked to commissioners about the issue at a staff meeting two weeks ago, and he went before commissioners again Wednesday to present a pay plan that he developed with the help of county staff. The plan would raise the starting salary for commissioned and detention deputies to $23.50 an hour, with adjustments throughout the pay ranges for current deputies.
Easter said his staff has had a vacancy rate of 50 percent and he has been losing deputies to other local agencies that have offered higher pay, and some staff members have quit because of burnout resulting from staff shortages.
Commissioner Jim Howell said the situation is a “snowball that is getting worse and we need to change the trajectory.” Commissioner Lacey Cruse called for steps to redesign the system and provide information to inmates on community-based services they can access after they get out of jail, to get help for mental health and substance abuse issues. Cruse said the recidivism rates are still 60 percent after two years, and if those rates can be reduced, it will save taxpayer dollars by reducing the number of inmates in the jail.
The pay plan for deputies is expected to have an impact of just over $2 million for the rest of this year, and an impact of over $4 million for 2023.
