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Sheriff asks for overtime, new positions and pay adjustments to reduce comp-time and cover court duties
Summary
Hood County sheriff told commissioners his office needs more overtime funding, an additional deputy at the Justice Center, a warrant/ECS technician and radio technician, and targeted raises to retain deputies and reduce comp-time, citing court coverage and major incident responses.
The Hood County sheriff presented a comprehensive set of budget requests at the June 16 hearing focused on personnel and overtime. He said chronic comp-time accumulation has left operations strained and asked for a mix of overtime funding, additional deputies and pay-step adjustments to retain staff.
Specific requests included funds to increase overtime from $40,000 to $50,000 for dispatch, adding a warrant/entry (ECS) position and a radio/technical specialist (the county’s current technician is at risk of leaving), restoring a fourth patrol deputy at the Justice Center, and raising jailer and deputy base pay with targeted step increases for recruits and training coordinators.
The sheriff said operational drivers include extensive court coverage, inmate transports to outside hospitals and facilities, and high-complexity crime scenes that require on-call investigators and divers. He argued that a combination of overtime and headcount would be necessary because comp-time cannot be reliably burned down under current staffing.
Commissioners asked for more detailed cost spreadsheets and comparisons with neighboring counties’ overtime and staffing models. No formal action was taken; the sheriff’s requests were left for fiscal modeling by the auditor and further discussion in budget workshops.
