Equal pay for Clarke County Sheriff’s deputies may be on hold as the deadline for next year’s budget comes closer.
At a budget meeting Thursday, Mayor Kelly Girtz and several commissioners debated whether or not sheriff’s deputies should receive the same salary as their counterparts in the Athens-Clarke County Police Department who receive the same training.
Sheriff John Q Williams sounded the alarm at a budget meeting in mid-May that equal pay would be necessary for the retention of deputies.
“If you want people dying in jail, keep having us be short staffed,” Sheriff Williams said.
During Thursday’s budget hearing, Patrick Davenport, Commissioner in the 1st District, suggested budgeting in room for a pay study rather than raising deputies’ salaries for next year.
“We’re picking and choosing our favorites. I think a more holistic study will benefit. Just me, I am prejudiced. That’s my fault. I think our police officers do a much better and finer job in protecting our community,” he said.
The Mayor told Commissioners to consider the gap in pay between Georgia State Patrol Officers and Georgia Department of Corrections.
“Those are both public safety units in the state of Georgia. Their gap is much wider than our gap. Our gap between sheriff’s deputies working the jail and those who are policing the streets through ACCPD is relatively narrow compared to that gap between Department of Corrections and State Patrol,” Girtz said.
However, the gap in salaries between entry-level Georgia State Patrol Officers and state correctional officers is about $4,000, while the gap between local sheriff’s deputies and ACCPD officers is about $5,000.
The question of deputy pay will be settled for the next fiscal year on June 5th, when commissioners are expected to approve the budget.
This article comes to Now Habersham in partnership with WUGA
