A renewed talk of employee pay came this week as Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp released a report he gave commissioners individually last November. “I presented it individually to commissioners in hopes they would take it into consideration as they deliberated the budget.”

Overview

While the report, The Effects of Turnover on Public Safety, is a detailed look into law enforcement pay, Tripp says he believes there should be pay raises for all county employees. “All county employees have some aspect of public safety in their job,” he said. “I'm not suggesting a tax increase. I'm talking about reassessing programs so all county employees can get a raise.”

Asked whether he was referring to funding requests from outside agencies or inside funding like economic development projects, he replied, “The commissioners know what I'm talking about.”

Tripp said his office has funded equipment and cars through federal drug seizure money since he took office in 2013. That money, however, can't be used for salaries. “The well is running dry.”

Challenges

For the sheriff, it's not only the pay of agencies right in the county that is higher, it's also a matter of hiring challenges. “One struggle,” he says in the report, “... is hiring the right people. With the expanded knowledge, cultural competency and technical skills required of modern law enforcement, many applicants are unable to meet standards.”

He says, “This has put a strain on an already challenged applicant pool.”

In a recent applicant pool, he said, 42 of 71 were nullified for not meeting sheriff's training and standards restrictions, “or simply demonstrating the inability to follow instructions on the application.”

The standards are stringent, he wrote in the report. “The current applicant pool suffers from increased drug use, increased obesity rates and increased instances of financial problems that may be indicative of bad judgment and a proclivity towards corruption.”

Then there is the pay scale itself, he wrote. “Salary and potential for advancement are the most important factors when deciding where to apply.”

The pay at the sheriff's office, he wrote, “is in reality and by reputation very low when compared to virtually all other agencies.”

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Pay scale

The sheriff's office pay scale appears fair at the top end. “However, the top of the scales is not achievable. When employees realize that they are unable to achieve the salary set by the pay scale, they often become disheartened and disillusioned by the employer and will seek alternatives.”

Starting pay for a deputy is $28,469, compared to $34,000 in Roanoke Rapids. In Enfield the starting pay is $30,200.

“Police have a very important job,” the sheriff said, but their jobs are different. “They're not charged with court responsibilities, civil process or transporting inmates out of the county and dealing with mental subjects.”

On each shift eight deputies cover 712 square miles while in Roanoke Rapids police officers cover around 8 square miles.

There are a fair number of deputies on public assistance, Tripp said, and the one time $500 bonus commissioners are proposing for the upcoming fiscal year will probably come out to $250 to $300 by the time taxes are taken out.

The low pay, he noted in the report, leads to retention issues and the retention issues lead to impacts in solving crimes and the overall quality of service.

In the last few months the sheriff has lost four deputies to Enfield and Roanoke Rapids.

“When budgets do not support competitive pay scales and training opportunities, the results are inevitable — employees leave. This directly impacts liability for the sheriff and the county as well. Despite the best leadership and supervision, long-term effects will inevitably affect the public safety of Halifax County.”

As it currently stands, the average patrol deputy has three years of experience; the average investigator 18 months of investigative experience; the average shift supervisor an average of 4.7 years experience and the average drug agents an average of 12 months.

“The sheriff's office,” Tripp wrote in the report, “is at a disadvantage when hiring experienced officers. We have the ability to hire experienced officers at a salary higher than starting salary, but maintaining equity with current employees limits the ability of the sheriff's office to make a competitive offer.”

Training money, Tripp said in the report, “ultimately builds their resumes for jobs elsewhere.”

Remedies

While outlining the problem within his office, Tripp's report also offers solutions for all county employees.

“We propose a series of across-the-board raises to maintain experienced, effective and career-oriented deputies and detention officers,” the report says. “A sheriff's employee should be able to work as a deputy or detention officer and retire without formal rank with pride. A sheriff's employee should be reasonably able to support a family on their salary, regardless of rank.”

The sheriff said he does not ask for tax dollars lightly. “We agree with other departments that all county employees need to be compensated competitively, but the sheriff's office has experienced disproportionate effects of continued retention issues. The sheriff's office is somewhat different from other agencies because of the nature of the work and the direct impact on public safety. With the exception of EMS, the public as a whole is less likely to feel the effects of inexperience within other departments as much as it does the sheriff's office.”

To truly compete with Roanoke Rapids, the sheriff said in the report, “We would need to adjust starting salary by 19.8 percent.”

While he says that much of a jump would not be feasible, he has the following recommendations:

• A 3.75 percent raise for three straight years, equating to three steps in the current pay scale. That would result in a $29,536 salary; a second year salary of $30,644 and a three-year salary of $31,793.

• A 6.25 percent increase across-the-board for two straight years, resulting in a starting salary in the second year of $32,139.

• A 5 percent across-the-board increase for three straight years. This would result in a $32,956 starting salary and would be competitive mid-range.

“While we understand the difficulty in setting the budget, the inconsistency of evaluation raises is detrimental to county employees and the county as a whole. It removes a valuable incentive for employees and affects their long-term earning ability, which may cause employees to seek employment elsewhere.”

Reactions

“He has a legitimate concern as to pay for deputy sheriff's,” board of commissioner Chair Vernon Bryant said this week. “We're committed to not only looking at the sheriff's office, but all 500-plus employees.”

Bryant said the top funding priority for the upcoming fiscal year was the new Manning school. “We're responsible for other county operations. We certainly have not ignored his request. We're juggling a lot of balls.”

Bryant said commissioners took what department heads, including the sheriff, recommended in budget negotiations. “I don't have a crystal ball. Certainly commissioners can change their minds.”

It is doubtful, however, board members will alter the budget Monday. “Going forward next year it will be a priority. We've run into rough times. It's a priority in the future. Halifax commissioners are committed to taking a hard look at employee salaries in the future.”

County Manager Tony Brown said, “We need to improve salaries countywide. Some positions and job classifications are 10 to 15 percent behind what their counterparts are making. We can't do it all at once.”

Brown said since the recession hit, the county has given out three raises. “We got that far behind. Playing catchup, that's hard to do. On average we're 7 percent behind. We need to commit to doing steady raises over a couple of years.”

It would take millions to correct it all at once, Brown said. “I would like to see us commit to 2 percent over the next few years, whatever we can commit to. My goal is to address the 7 percent we're behind. If we could afford 3 percent so we can be competitive, that's just getting us close to being competitive.”

Commissioner Patrick Qualls said he is sympathetic to the pay rate of county employees, both in and out of the sheriff's office. “I understand how difficult a job the deputies and sheriff's employees have and it will be a focus in the upcoming year in looking and evaluating where we stand in our pay schedule.”

Qualls said the county has enormous financial constraints. “We're not a rich county and then we are mandated to do a lot of things. We're mandated to build schools and this year we are mandated to build a new Manning out of necessity.”