Sheriff presses pay raises, discloses detention-center contraband probe; board asks for jail takeover study

The Citrus County sheriff used a March 31 presentation to press a broad reclassification and pay-plan proposal while disclosing an active criminal investigation tied to the county detention center.

The sheriff said the county's starting deputy pay lags comparable agencies by about 13 percent and proposed raising the starting salary to $62,400 with a mix of either straight annual steps or smaller annual raises combined with longevity bumps every three years. He told commissioners the agencywide reclassification would cost about $4.5 million for sworn law enforcement positions, about $750,000 to raise communications (911/dispatch) staff, and about $412,000 to adjust support staff. He said existing city and school contracts would cover roughly $500,000 of the sworn total, reducing the county's net exposure to near $4 million; required COPS-grant matching could add to the near-term total, and commissioners estimated a final first-year fiscal effect of roughly $5.5'$6 million when matches are included.

The sheriff linked the personnel proposal to retention, saying roughly 80% of patrol staff have less than three years'service and…