Sheriff Greg Taylor Requests Needed Funds

AC Commissioner’s Court Hears Case
ANDERSON COUNTY – Sheriff Greg Taylor went to Court on behalf of the Jailers and Deputies in Anderson County in the Sept. 19 meeting of the Commissioner’s Court.
“Every year, we spend about $110,000 in overtime, roughly,” he began. “This year is a little different …”
Taylor explained the difficulty in a budget insufficient in overtime pay. “The amount of inmates I have on the floor. Last year, I had maybe ten days I had to have five jailers on the floor. This year, I have already had more than 140 inmates. What that causes is five jailers for three shifts a day, every day, resulting in overtime.”
“If we were at the inmate level we had last year we’d be much closer to making it than we are now. So what that has created is employees working overtime who aren’t going to be paid unless the court gives me the money to pay the overtime,” he said.
“We just paid some overtime this pay period so we don’t have enough money in the budget to pay future overtime. When you ask someone to work, and they have to work overtime – and in the case of the jail it is state mandated, another unfunded state mandate – you have to have a certain number of jailers on the floor per amount of inmates. That’s one of the driving forces of the jail overtime,” he continued.
“I can tell you the biggest problem I see facing us for the end of the year is the amount of inmates we have. There are a lot of people in my jail with high bonds, no bonds … these are heinous, serious crimes and multiple offenders so they won’t reduce the bond.
“There are two issues this has caused,” he said.
“I’m not here to rail on Commissioner’s Court. I just think everyone should be paid when the work.
“What I am saying is jailers get paid $27,000 per year … take the overtime away from them, give them comp time or vacation time they can never take off … that’s hardly fair,” he said.
“So I’m asking the court for two things. I need additional monies to make it to the end of the year for overtime and to extend the cap on comp time,” he said.
“If the court finds they aren’t going to give me any money for overtime, then the cap needs to be raised, from 200 to 300 or 350 hours. I don’t think it’s fair for an employee to work and lose his vacation time because he can’t take off. When they do take off, they have to take comp time instead of vacation time,” he continued.
Taylor cited information detailing the $250,000 in overtime pay used by Palestine City Police Department, and pointed out the city’s law enforcement agency is smaller than his own and does not incorporate their own jail facility.
“It’s not necessary to extend the cap if I get more money,” Taylor said.
County Judge Robert Johnston commiserated with Taylor, but replied, “I understand. We don’t have any money right now, and I can’t see that extending the cap is a good idea. If I extend it for your department, why wouldn’t I need to extend it to other departments?”
“Do other departments have a problem with overtime?” Taylor asked.
“I don’t know,” Johnston said. “That’s what I was about to discuss. How do we give them more time off?”
Johnston explained his recent visit to the jail and underscored the current high inmate count. “Would it be more beneficial to us in the short term, if we are over that count, to send them somewhere?”
“That is an option, if I lose any more jailers …“ Taylor said. “To send them out will cost you about $40 per day per inmate. Transportation costs must be added into that.”
“I put five jailers on the floor at about 189. Three (inmates) could come in at any moment and you have to be ready for that. Right now, to keep four jailers on the floor I’d have to send 20 inmates out. Twenty inmates at $40 per day, for roughly a month … you will spend more on that than you will on overtime.
“And, the money is not staying in this county.” Taylor added.
Taylor explained one real solution would be more staff, however, not many people want to work in the jail for $27,000 per year, and those who apply are subject to stringent background investigations. Many do not pass the required, mandated qualifications.
Street deputies are also facing overtime and for safety’s sake, Taylor explained, there must be at least three deputies on the street at any time. “I also have the courts to cover, other things to cover, my investigators act as bailiffs frequently, we are all out there cutting marijuana, throwing it on the trailer…we get the job done.”
“I’m not trying to say we are unique to law enforcement agencies. We are all understaffed, and I’m not blaming you all for that. There’s just not enough money.
“If I lose more jailers, which I may over this issue, if we don’t pay them for this overtime, then we will be sending inmates out and it is going to cost more than the overtime,” Taylor said.
Taylor iterated, “If you don’t pay the overtime, you need to extend the caps on comp time.”
Taylor and the court discussed options for solving the problem, including lowering the cap on comp time, paying accrued comp time quarterly and hiring more jailers.
One basic problem, Taylor explained to the court, insufficient staff causes the need for one officer to cover another officer when time off is taken to ensure safety. Because of the need to fill all the gaps due to state mandates, someone will almost always need overtime pay or comp time.
Days off are not frequent, but Taylor said he cannot deny people the time off they’ve earned when he can sufficiently cover duties in the county.
Even so, most deputies and jailers do not come close to using up the comp time they’ve accumulated before the end of the year.
Comp time, which is compensable under state law, must be paid if not used. Vacation and vacation pay do not similarly accrue.
Ordinances create a requirement causing deputies to use accrued comp time before using vacation time – and if the vacation is not used during the allotted year the deputy loses it without compensation.
To pay the additional $70,000 plus the jail needs to complete the year for overtime pay, the court would have to declare an emergency to make the adjustment in budget.
No decision was reached during the court session.
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