Richland County Sheriff’s Department staff met with the Richland County commissioners on Tuesday morning to discuss the department’s budget. Sheriff Steve Shedlon noted the impact of the upcoming retirement of eight officers.
The officers will retire by the end of the year, “and while that’s not necessarily good for the ’13 budget, it should be good for the ’14 budget,” stated Sheriff Steve Sheldon.
After reviewing budget numbers at the end of September, the sheriff’s department is estimating a negative balance of $247,107.15 by the end of December.
As of the last pay period in August, the department maintained a balance of $760,397.89.
Payroll Supervisor Erika Spicer stated that by the end of this year, the department will owe $42,164.19 in back-pay amounts. Additionally, there are two employees coming off probation which decreases the balance of another $5,728,. Four new officers could be hired at $18,224, bringing the balance to negative $247,107.15 (this number also includes payroll expenses).
“As far as the county’s cash flow and cash position, within a 30-60 day period, from the beginning of December to the end of January, there’s going to be a dramatic impact. You’re going to see this enormous drop in outflow of labor costs, followed by a reduced outflow,” stated Commissioner Ed Olson.
Spicer added that the department hopes to add four new hires effective the second payroll in November. However, if there is a delay with available Field Training Officers (FTO), there could potentially be only two new hires, which would lessen the $18,224 expense to half that amount in the budget.
Sheriff Sheldon stated that the department believes that one person will retire on Oct. 31 and another on Nov. 12. During that time, they would like to start the process of hiring new people, and then two more on Jan. 1.
He added, “This number [$247,107.15] could be less because of the CCW [Concealed Carry Weapon] funds. The CCW funds would reimburse the general funds to pay the officers’ salaries, which is something we did last year.”
