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Sheriff says dozens of vacancies are imminent; council and staff weigh pay structure and retention tools
Summary
The sheriff warned of large near-term vacancies and urged better compensation and retention tools; administrators described a tiered step plan and proposed pay increases, and councilors considered targeted retention payments, tuition reimbursement and other nonwage incentives.
Sheriff Phillips told Greenville County Council members the sheriff's office faces substantial recruiting and retention pressures and that dozens of positions will be open in the near term.
"I will have 40 positions open by the end of this month with retirements, and people transferring to other agencies," the sheriff said, describing rapid turnover and the operational strain it creates.
County Administrator Mishra and the sheriff described how pay is structured: a base salary (often cited publicly as about $51,000) plus scheduled overtime and experience/education bump factors. Mishra provided a table of typical total compensation including scheduled overtime and said the average new-hire total-pay figure for 2025 is about $64,144. He also explained a step-pay plan designed to reduce compression: 3% increases in years 1'4, 2% in years 5'7, 1.5% in years 8'10 and 1% thereafter.
Councilors concentrated on the challenge of compaction (how raises for new hires can compress pay with longer-serving employees who train them) and asked whether targeted retention payments, higher tuition reimbursement or other nontraditional incentives could better keep employees for the critical 0'5-year window when departures are most frequent. Mishra said staff will model alternatives, including the fiscal effects of shifting the percentage mix or targeting raises and retention pay to groups with the highest turnover.
The workshop ended with staff agreeing to present numerical scenarios that show the budgetary impact of different mixes of raises and targeted retention strategies prior to the budget's second reading.
