Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies get big pay increase, but taxes will stay steady

Silas Sloan, Knoxville News Sentinel
Updated ·3 min read
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Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Sheriff Tom Spangler reached a compromise on pay increases for sheriff’s deputies and jailers, averting a costly court battle that would have been funded by taxpayers.

Patrol deputies ranked captain and below will receive a 12% raise and corrections officers will receive a 27% raise.

The terms of the raise, announced on June 2, are:

  • Patrol deputies' starting salary will be increased to $51,100 and jailers' starting salary will be raised to $50,100.

  • All chiefs will receive a 5% raise and all civilian sheriff's office employees will receive a 3% raise.

  • The legacy pension plan for veteran staff will be capped at 3% of their pensionable pay. The resulting savings will fund the pay raise and future increases.

  • The sheriff's office will give up 29 open jail positions.

  • All sheriff's office employees will be able to participate in the continuing education program, which provides tuition reimbursement for a college degree or professional certification.

  • In the future, sheriff's office employees will receive the same pay increases as other Knox County employees.

  • Jacobs said there will not be a property tax increase.

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Sheriff Tom Spangler hold a news conference June 2 after reaching a compromise on pay increases for sheriff’s deputies and jailers.
Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Sheriff Tom Spangler hold a news conference June 2 after reaching a compromise on pay increases for sheriff’s deputies and jailers.

The new wages for patrol and jail officers are both significantly higher than the state average, at 30% above and 48% above respectively. Patrol officers will be the fourth-highest paid in the state, and jail officers will be second.

Allison Rogers, the sheriff's office director of finance, said it was a priority for Spangler to make sure the starting salaries for patrol and jail officers were similar, which is common in other counties. That's why jail officers got a heftier raise.

How was a tax increase avoided?

The county is essentially frontloading money to pay for this year's raise.

Knox County Finance Director Chris Caldwell said the county will save about $19 million over the next 20 years by capping the pensionable pay.

The cap essentially limits how much money is pensionable, Caldwell said. If an officer gets a 12% raise, 3% will contribute to the pension, while the remaining 9% won't.

There are several other ways the cost will be offset.

  • Revenue will be increased, according to Caldwell, by raising the prisoner reimbursement rate, which is currently $41 a day.

  • Additional revenue will come from collecting delinquent taxes, emergency medical fines and more.

  • Rogers said cutting the 29 open positions will save about $1.9 million.

With the additional revenue sources, the general fund for the 2023-24 fiscal year will increase by $3.975 million to a total of $220.9 million, according to Caldwell.

The budget amendments will be presented to the Knox County Commission for approval June 5.

How did we get here?

When Jacobs gave his state of the county address in May, his proposed budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year included an 8% raise for sheriff's office patrol and jail officers. All other sheriff's office employees would receive a 3% raise.

The 8% raise hinged on Spangler giving up 58 open positions in the department – 50 from the jail staff and eight from patrol –  to avoid raising taxes. Jacobs has made campaign promises to hold taxes steady.

Spangler pushed back, asking for a 30% increase for patrol and jail officers ranked captain or below, a 10% raise for chiefs and a 5% raise for civilian employees. He said he would only give up the 58 positions for the 30% raise, and would sue the county as a "last resort" if the raise were not approved.

Caldwell told Knox News in May that Spangler's proposal would require a tax hike of 7 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

The county commissioned an independent analysis that said Spangler's proposed raises would have cost taxpayers about $60 million over the next 20 years in increased pension costs.

Silas Sloan is the growth and development reporter. Email silas.sloan@knoxnews.com. Twitter @silasloan. Instagram @knox.growth.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies get big pay increase