‘Dangerous job:’ Lawmakers weigh setting minimum salaries for some sheriffs, jailers, deputies

Lawmakers are considering a measure that could set minimum salaries for some sheriffs, deputies and county jailers. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY — Lawmakers are taking a second look at a controversial plan that could use state dollars to supplement the salaries of sheriffs, deputies and jailers working in some of the poorest counties.

Senate budget discussions about creating a sheriff’s office salary assistance grant program began again last week, a day after the House speaker said sheriff and police department funding remained among his chamber’s top budget priorities.

Supporters of House Bill 4063 are asking legislators to set aside $20 million to fund new minimum salary thresholds for some county jailers, sheriffs and deputies. Under the proposal, sheriffs would make no less than $75,000. Deputies would make at least $45,000 and jailers, $40,000.

They say creating salary benchmarks will help create parity between property-rich counties and counties that are heavily agricultural or where the state owns thousands of acres of land that it pays no taxes on. They note that counties are capped on how much they can collect. It costs about 30% of what they collect to pay for jail operations, equipment and personnel.

Skeptics question why state taxpayers should supplement local government operations, who those law enforcement officers would be working for, and what would prevent sheriff’s offices from buying “toys” like tactical vehicles and other heavy machinery that would not often be used. They also said that the measure is written poorly and urged supporters to go back and rewrite it before they consider it in the final days of session.

Under the existing proposal, counties could qualify for grants ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 a year depending on a complex set of criteria that factor in square miles and population.

In addition to achieving base salary levels, sheriff’s offices could use the funding to hire additional staff and to purchase vehicles, firearms, and safety equipment.

Mike Maxwell, a lobbyist for the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association, said Creek County’s population of about 72,700 will likely be the dividing line between counties that require the supplemental funding and those that do not. Urban and suburban counties already typically pay employees at or above the suggested minimum because sheriff’s salaries are tied to property tax collections.

Counties are limited to how much they can collect, and while Maxwell said not all counties have reached that 15-mill limit, those that are predominantly rural have a lot of land that is agricultural. Those lands are taxed at a much lower rate than residential or industrial. That means less property tax revenue for rural counties.

He said the state already standardizes pay for judges and district attorneys and argues that sheriff’s employees should be included as well.

“We’re not just losing deputies and jailers to other law enforcement entities that pay more, we’re losing them to fast food restaurants to convenience stores,” he said. “We’re not even matching the pay scale for most convenience stores right now in some of these rural areas.”

But Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, said during a budget committee discussion on the measure last week that lawmakers would be kidding themselves to think this would be a one-time expense or a “grant.”

“We’ve got to have a serious discussion as a Legislature if we’re going to take it upon ourselves now to fund county sheriff’s departments,” she said. “It will only grow, and at some point, you need to ask the question, are sheriffs now working for the counties? Are they working for the state? And if so, what sort of authority will the state have over the counties?”

The measure easily passed the full House in March, but was never considered by the upper chamber. She said senators haven’t had an opportunity to discuss whether they want to fund county law enforcement.

Daniels said it also should include a requirement that the funds pay for personnel and not other things.

Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, said the state Commissioners of the Land Office owns nearly 20% of land in his home of Cimarron County and doesn’t pay any taxes on it.

He said the county sheriff resigned last summer.

Residents couldn’t find anyone to replace him for a long time because the top county law enforcement officer makes $29,000 a year and only has one deputy to help patrol the 1,800 square-mile county, Murdock said.

“It is a thankless full-time job for $29,000 a year that he could lose his life over,” Murdock said.

He said if the state wants to own massive amounts of property without paying taxes on it, lawmakers need to make up the difference. He said the U.S. Forest Services, for instance, owns about 36,000 acres in the same county, but pays about $1 an acre.

House Rep. Ross Ford, R-Broken Arrow, said county law enforcement can’t compete with the salaries of the municipal police departments. The funding pitch has proven a tough sell in the Senate, he said.

“It’s a tough sell just because we’re broaching a new era of state appropriating money to a county entity, and we have never done that in the past,” Ford said.

Ford, a former law enforcement officer, says he understands the argument that it’s up to county taxpayers to fund local sheriff’s departments and jails, but it hasn’t happened.

The average deputy makes about $36,000 a year, he said. The average sheriff makes about $57,000 a year. 

He said four counties — Nowata, Cimarron, Greer and Harmon — currently pay their sheriff’s $38,000 or less. 

Deputies in those counties make less than $2,000 a month, Ford said.

“They do a dangerous job, and in rural Oklahoma and in some of these small counties, they’re the only ones out there enforcing any laws at all,” he said. “There may not be another law enforcement officer within 50 miles in these counties, and some of them could make more money working at McDonald’s or fast food than they could being a deputy.”

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