Georgetown County Sheriff s Office Salary Study

Transcription

1 Georgetown County Sheriff s Office Salary Study October 2012 Overview For the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office to provide quality law enforcement to the citizens and visitors of Georgetown County, it will require that the sheriff s office be able to recruit and retain quality employees. To recruit quality employees, the sheriff s office must offer starting salaries comparable with surrounding Law enforcement agencies. Once the sheriff s office obtains these employees and invests in training and equipment, the salaries must remain competitive in order to retain the employees. The process of hiring qualified personnel to be law enforcement officers (deputies) is time and resource-intensive. Each candidate must go through an extensive background check and hiring process. Once candidates are hired, they have to attend The South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy, as well as go through additional training in the field before becoming a deputy. Without competitive salaries, the sheriff s office will be unable to recruit qualified candidates and retain trained law enforcement officers. The sheriff s office reviewed the salaries of area agencies to determine where the sheriff s office salaries compared. Overall, the sheriff s office salary structure was below the averages of area county agencies. For the sheriff s office to be competitive in recruitment and retention of employees, the salaries of all sheriff s office employees needs to be increased

2 Chart 1 Chart 1 (Law Enforcement officers/non-certified) compares the starting non-certified officer salaries of area agencies. The sheriff s office is 9 th out of 10 agencies. The average starting salary for the 10 agencies is $30, compared to the sheriff s office starting salary of $26, (13% below the average). 2

3 Chart 2 Chart 2 ( Law Enforcement officers/ Certified)compares the starting certified officer salaries of area agencies. The sheriff s office is 10 th out of 10 agencies. The average starting salary for the 10 agencies is $32, compared to the sheriff s office salary of $28, (13% below the average) 3

4 Chart 3 Chart 3: Compares the starting supervisory salaries of the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office and area agencies. 4

5 Chart 4 Chart 4: Compares the starting Corporal s salary of the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office and area agencies. 5

6 Chart 5 Chart 5: Compares the starting Sergeant s salary of the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office and area agencies. 6

7 Chart 6 Chart 6: Compares the starting Lieutenant s salary of the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office and area agencies 7

8 Chart 7 Chart 7: Compares the starting Captain s salary of the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office and area agencies. 8

9 Chart 8 Chart 8 ( Detention Center) compares the starting Correctional officer salaries of area agencies. The Sheriff s Office is 4 th out of 5 agencies. The average starting salary for the 5 agencies is $26, compared to the Sheriff s Office Detention Center salary of $23, (12% below the average) + 9

10 Chart 9 Chart 9 ( Dispatchers) compares the starting dispatcher (Communications Officers) salaries of area agencies. The sheriff s office communications center is 6 th out of 6 agencies. The average starting salary for the 6 agencies is $27, compared to the Sheriff s Office Communication s salary of $23, (15% below the average) 10

11 The Effects of a Pay Reduction of 3% and Eliminating the Cost of Living and Merit Raises on Deputies at the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office Besides the effects of non competitive salaries compared to other local agencies, the effects of a pay reduction of 3% and eliminating the cost of living and merit raises has increased the problem of retaining qualified deputies and employees at the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office. Three examples are provided to illustrate the effects of the 3% pay reduction and elimination of the cost of living and merit raises. The first example is the effect on the starting salary of a certified deputy at the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office (Chart 10). The Second is the effects on the salary of a Certified Deputy who started in July 2008 a year before the pay reduction and the elimination of the cost of living and merit raises (Chart 11). The third is the effects of a certified deputy employed by the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office in 2001 (Chart 12). 11

12 Chart 10 Chart 10 shows the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office starting salary before the 3% pay reduction (June 2009), starting salary after the 3% pay reduction (July 2009 and current starting salary), what the starting salary should have been with a 2% cost of living raise each July through July of The difference between the current starting salary of $28,072 to the projected starting salary (with the cost of living raises) in July 2012 of $31,298 is $3,

13 Chart 11 Chart 11 shows the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office salary of a deputy who started in July 2008 before the 3% pay reduction (June 2009), starting salary after the 3% pay reduction (July 2009 and current salary), what the salary of the deputy should have been with a 2% cost of living raise each July and, what the salary should have been with a 3% Merit raise each October through July 2012, The difference between the current salary of $28,072 to the projected salary (with the cost of living raises and merit raises) in July 2012 of $34,200 is $6,

14 Chart 12 Chart 12 shows the Georgetown County Sheriff s Office salary of an actual deputy who started in 2001 before the 3% pay reduction (June 2009), his salary after the 3% pay reduction (July 2009 and current starting salary), what the salary should have been with a 2% cost of living raise in July 2009, what the salary should have been with a 3% Merit raise in October 2009, what the salary should be with an additional cost of living raise of 2% in July each year and, what the starting salary should be with an additional 3% merit raise in October each year through July 2012 Note the deputy has currently been working with the Georgetown County Sheriff s office for approximately 12 years but his current salary of $32,895 is less than the starting salary for a certified officer at the Horry County Police Department ($33,760), Myrtle Beach Police Department ($34,731), and Charleston County Sheriff s Office ($34, 767) These salaries are for certified officer who have just graduated from the criminal justice academy. The difference between the current salary of $32,895 to the projected salary (with the cost of living raises and merit raises) in July 2012 of $40,077 is $7,

15 Sources City of Georgetown Police Department Horry County Human Resources Department Berkley County Human Resources Department Charleston County Sheriff s Office and Human Resources Department City of Myrtle Beach Human Resources Department Williamsburg County Government Payroll City of Conway Government Payroll City of Mount Pleasant Police Department Georgetown County Sheriff s Office 15