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Sheriff's office reports $7 million overtime overrun, 900 applicants in recruitment push
Summary
Wayne County Sheriff’s Office reported a $7,000,373 overtime overrun through August 2025, cited 323 total vacancies across sworn and civilian positions, and said recruiting efforts yielded 900 applicants.
Bonita Terry, chief of administration for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, told the county Committee on Public Safety, Judiciary and Homeland Security on Oct. 16, 2025, that the office’s fiscal-year overtime costs through August totaled $15,522,265 against a budget of $8,148,948, a variance of about $7,000,373.
Terry said the sheriff’s office budgeted 1,056 positions for FY2025 and reported 276 vacant sworn (police officer) positions and 47 vacant civilian positions. “We have actual cost of $15,522,265, where we have went over the budget of 7,000,373,” Terry said.
Terry told commissioners the office hired 134 officers so far in the fiscal year and lost 61 through retirement or other separations. By comparison, she said the office hired 57 officers and lost 47 in fiscal 2024. She also reported 82 employees currently on fully approved FMLA leave, up from 72 the previous year, and said the agency has recorded a total of 731 COVID cases since the pandemic began.
On recruitment, Terry said the office had paused some outward recruiting after a “one-stop-shop” hiring event produced about 900 applicants and that staff were focusing on background checks for those applicants.
Commissioner Wilson asked about the nature of the vacant civilian positions; Terry clarified those are non-sworn roles such as department administrators and jail service workers, and that volunteer reserves are not budgeted positions.
Commissioner Dobbs moved to forward the overtime report; Commissioner Clemente supported the motion and commissioners voted via tablets. The motion carried.
The report was informational and was forwarded to the full board; commissioners did not adopt new policy or allocate new funds during the committee meeting.
