Dodge County Sheriff Lynn Sheffield’s plea to the board of commissioners for a salary increase for deputies on road patrol from the November 6, 2017 meeting of board was neither approved or not approved Monday night.
During the November 6, 2017 meeting, Sheffield said in his presentation, “We are losing deputies due to pay. We had two that are moving to other counties, and if we don’t do something, I know of at least two or three more who will be leaving.”
At this Monday night’s meeting, Dodge County Commission Chair Dan McCranie brought the request back up during the old business. “What do we want to do?”
According to reports, since the first meeting in November, approximately four deputies had left the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department.
Commission takes no action on raise request
“Do we want to approve it or just table it or what? Any discussion?” McCranie asked. Sheffield’s request also included raises for jailers and other staff members after the first of the year.
After a few moments of silence, Dodge County Commissioner Brian Watkins said, “I just don’t see how we can do this. This is not going to be a three or four or six week thing, this is about next year’s budget. I don’t know of any other way.”
Watkins continued, “What I figure is that this will take about a 1 to 1.5 mill increase.”
Niblett agreed with Watkins. “I really hate to see deputies leave, but the sheriff does have the discretion to use his budget as he sees necessary.” Niblett pointed out that the sheriff could transfer monies from one area to another if the needs were there.
McCranie said, “So, I guess we’ll just leave this request alone?” The other commissioners agreed.
No action was taken either way on Sheffield’s request for raises for his road deputies.
After a few moments of silence, Dodge County Commissioner Brian Watkins said, “I just don’t see how we can do this. This is not going to be a three or four or six week thing, this is about next year’s budget. I don’t know of any other way.”
Watkins continued, “What I figure is that this will take about a 1 to 1.5 mill increase.”
Niblett agreed with Watkins. “I really hate to see deputies leave, but the sheriff does have the discretion to use his budget as he sees necessary.” Niblett pointed out that the sheriff could transfer monies from one area to another if the needs were there.
McCranie said, “So, I guess we’ll just leave this request alone?” The other commissioners agreed.
No action was taken either way on Sheffield’s request for raises for his road deputies.
Cut back on services. Not really realistic. The County Commissioners set a pseudo budget but remember they have peers that are also Georgia constitutional officers. This allows those peers to run their departments and spend within reason how they like. The Commissioners can thump their chest and say we are cutting back the budget across the board for all other areas to better fund deputies but that is a toothless roar. Remember a few years back when another constitutional officer's department was nearly $1 million over budget. Because of this the Commission had to increase the millage rate from 10.062 to 12.064 mills to keep the county in the black.
Find additional monies. As touched on above and to move as quickly as the Sheriff is telling the Commissioners is necessary, a millage rate increase would be needed. This doesn't give the commissioners the money to immediately pass along but it does give them the reassurance necessary to go out and get a Tax Anticipated Note (TAN) line of credit with a financial institution. If the community is behind paying our Sheriffs deputy more and getting to this goal quickly the commission needs to know the community supports the increased tax liability. The best way to let them know is to get your neighbors to write a letter supporting the move and take it to a county commission meeting and share the letters with the commission.
Without the millage rate bump for the infusion of additional revenues a more longitudinal approach will have to happen where incremental bumps in pay happen over five to ten years that keeps us at the bottom of the pay list with signs of improvement.
We need to pay our officers more, they are risking their lives everyday and I have a family that I want protected. Also officers continue to get the drugs off the street. I've yet to see a road block in a long time.