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Sheriff Urges Fiscal Court to Increase Wages

Sheriff Urges Fiscal Court to Increase Wages
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
Aug. 10, 2020 | MCCRACKEN COUNTY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 10, 2020 | 11:19 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY
During Monday's Fiscal Court meeting, McCracken County Sheriff Matt Carter discussed the need for better pay within the Sheriff's Office.

Carter shared that out of seven other law enforcement agencies in western Kentucky, the McCracken County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is one of the lowest paid.

The seven other law enforcement agencies that were compared include the Livingston County Sheriff's Office, the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, the Christian County Sheriff's Office, the Benton Police Department, the Paducah Police Department, the Calvert City Police Department, and the Kentucky State Police.

He said, "When you look at the calls per deputy, our guys are busier than any of these agencies by far. The only agency that exceeds the number of calls that we respond to annually is the Paducah Police Department."

Even in that case, Carter says that due to his department having less manpower than the Paducah Police Department, each of his deputies are responding to between 400 and 500 more calls annually than the Paducah Police Department. According to Carter, the lack of comparable pay to some of the other agencies is inhibiting him from retaining current deputies and hiring new deputies with the necessary experience.

"The reason that I feel so passionate about this and to be quite honest with you, concerned about this, is because when you start losing guys that have 20-25 years of experience to other agencies, or they retire, there's nothing that you can just quickly replace that knowledge with." Carter continued, "Especially in the current atmosphere that law enforcement is out conducting the job that they do. You've got to have the most qualified people that you can possibly hire."

He says there are also times when his department is operating with as little as three deputies on patrol across the county. He shared his concern of the possibility of delayed responses to emergency calls due to the situation.

Carter noted that he has always tried hard to ask for as little as possible from the county, sharing that since 2019 his office has used $182,000 out of their drug fund to purchase approved training and equipment, rather than asking the county to provide funding for the purchases.

"We're honestly at the brink of a crisis. If something doesn't give I'm going to have to make difficult decisions." Carter said. "We've got to do something and we've got to do something now."

When asked how much it would take for his office to be within 80 percent of the Paducah Police Department's salary and retirement pay, Carter says it would take approximately $570,000. This would work out to approximately $407,000 going towards salary and $162,000 going into retirement.

Commissioner Eddie Jones commented, saying that he would have to crunch the numbers to figure out just how much it would cost to provide what Carter is needing.

He said, "We've got to figure out what this is going to cost and how to get there because less than a year ago we told the county we were broke because we were broke."

Carter says his goal is for the commission to provide some hope and a plan. He knows it's not something that could take place overnight, but wants to get the ball rolling.

Carter said, "How we get there, I don't have an answer for that. I'm just asking that you all not take this lightly, and to look at any way possible to show these men and women that we're going to pay them what they're worth."

Commissioner Bill Bartleman suggested waiting to see what kind of revenue they get from the insurance tax. Adding to that, Commissioner Jeff Parker suggested holding a workshop to work out the numbers once they begin collecting the insurance tax.

Judge Executive Craig Clymer sympathized with Carter, but reminded everyone of the need for fiscal responsibility.

"Let's keep in mind, the reason we implemented the insurance tax was because we were in a bad dog gone position. The reason we were in a bad dog gone position is because the county had not, for many years, implemented any sort of revenue increase." Clymer said. "So now what I'm hearing is that rather than getting us a little savings to address any emergencies, that we take the result of the income tax and we provide it to pay salaries, keeping ourselves in a hole."

Clymer continued, saying that if they could just get the message to McCracken County residents of the need for higher taxes for the benefit of the Sheriff's department, he believes it would be well received.

Jones and Parker both agreed that they would like to see a plan, with Jones saying he would contact Carter for additional information.

You can see the full meeting below.

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