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Kentucky sheriffs describe statutory funding limits, call for tools to keep officers in rural counties
Summary
County law-enforcement leaders told the committee that sheriff's offices face statutory limits on fee-based revenue, tight budgets and operational pressures; speakers urged options such as rehiring retirees, defined benefits and hazardous-duty pay.
Johnny Bivens, sheriff of Lewis County and president of the Kentucky Sheriff's Association, told the committee that sheriff's offices perform broad duties (tax collection, court service, inmate transport and mental-health transports) and that statutory limits on fees constrain local sheriffs' ability to raise revenue.
"The office of sheriff has no mechanism to increase funding. The fees are set by statute," Bivens said, and he used his office's figures to illustrate the gap: his office collected and distributed about $450,000 last year for fire-tax districts but received only about $4,295 at a 1% commission rate.
Bivens and other county witnesses urged competitive compensation and benefits, the ability to rehire retired officers, and hazardous-duty pay as tools to improve recruitment and retention in rural counties. Bivens said excessive travel and long transports for mental-health evaluations (six to eight hours in his area) and increasing call volumes compound staffing pressures.
Montgomery County officials (introduced as the county judge executive) described the fiscal constraints of a rural county budget and laid out training requirements that add to local costs. The county official told lawmakers that police-officer professional standards certification requires an 800-hour training course (a 23-week academy) followed by field training; combining academy and field training can result in roughly 47 weeks of formal training before officers operate independently, which amplifies hiring costs for small counties.
The Montgomery County representative also cited statewide school resource officer needs: of 1,332 schools, the county-level data cited 937 current SROs, leaving a shortfall of about 400 officers if an officer were to be assigned in every school.
Sheriffs said some rural departments have reduced ability to offer sign-on bonuses or additional pay because statutory funding streams and commissions are fixed; lawmakers discussed statutory options and interlocal contracting as partial mitigation. No formal action was taken during the hearing.
