Saline County increases starting wage for corrections officers amid hiring struggle

After a few weeks of deliberation, county staff came forward with a proposal this week to increase the starting wage for corrections officers in Saline County. The action comes at a critical point where the struggle to hire and retain corrections officers has left the county sheriff concerned about adequately staffing a new jail, which is set to open later this year.

Sheriff Roger Soldan and Marilyn Leamer, the county's human resources director, came to the county commission Tuesday with a proposal for increased wages that came after direction from the board last week to explore increasing wages for all corrections officers in the county.

More:Saline County continues efforts in addressing corrections officers shortage

Beginning in the next pay period, the starting hourly wage for Saline County correctional officers will increase by $2.99, from $19.41 per hour to $22.40 per hour.

County corrections officers get second starting wage increase in a matter of seven months

The modifications approved by the commission March 7 includes revising the corrections officer pay grade from grade 15 to grade 17 starting at what the county defines as "step 2." In turn, the measure will modify pay grades for correction officers II, III, and those defined as Corporal and Sergeant, ensuring new hires are not making the same or more than veteran employees.

Additional recommendations in the March 7 request included a shift differential for jail and patrol employees that start a shift at 5 p.m. or after. Soldan and Leamer initially proposed a $0.75 per hour differential, but after public comment and discussion among commissioners, the board approved a $1 per hour differential in an effort to compete with area employers who also provide differentials.

"The focus here was on corrections officers, but we did want to consider the shift differential and thought that would be fair to do on both sides (corrections officers and patrol officers)," Leamer said.

The proposal for increased wages follows a study-session style meeting at the end of January, where the commission tasked county staff to identify hard-to-fill positions and provide possible solutions for them.

It’s also a process that happened just last year, when wage rates increased $3.05 per hour, from $16 per hour to $19 per hour. This was much closer to the market standard the county had observed through a study early last year.

With approval of the March 7 proposal, the county has increased correctional officer starting wages by $6.04 in a matter of seven months.

It comes in addition to a hiring incentive the county passed last fall that has done little to attract potential employees for the county.

More:Saline County modifies hiring incentive payouts for correctional officers

In a concept discussion last week, the commissioners expressed their own concerns about vacancies in roles that are necessary to departments running safely and efficiently.

"This all makes sense to me and... I believe that we ought to raise the wages of the jobs that we can't fill instead of just everybody," Commissioner Monte Shadwick said Feb. 28. "I'm nervous about (county employees saying), 'oh, the correctional officers got this pay-,' which I think that they should, '-and we didn't get anything.'"

While the difference in pay from a corrections officer to another county position might be a concern, it also reflects a dire need for people to fill those positions, and a more demanding line of work, he said.

"I'm assuming if $22.. looks good for someone that's working for the county that you'd accept them as an applicant for a correctional officer," Shadwick said.

"Yes," Leamer responded.

Empty positions leave concerns for sheriff

The county's struggle to hire and keep corrections officers mirrors a nationwide trend that has left one third of federal corrections officer jobs vacant.

Locally, Soldan has 34 authorized positions unfilled at the current jail. When the new jail opens, he said, the shortage will become dire.

Corrections officer vacancies accounted for a staggering $630,000 in unpaid salaries last year in Saline County.

"I would note that, for the first time in years, patrol positions are getting harder to fill, too," Soldan said Feb. 28. I have three open right now and I have one, I think, who is going to be gone within the next two weeks."

While some of the staff turnaround in the county, as of late, can be attributed to retirees, Leamer noted that what turns some applicants away is a lengthy hiring process.

The hiring process for positions in law enforcement take longer than other kinds of employment because of all the necessary steps to ensure a qualified candidate, like background checks, psychological evaluations, physical tests and a certification process.

"I hate to be standing here in front of you again talking about wages because I realize what happened last year" Soldan said at last week's concept discussion. "Marilyn, bless her heart, has been coming to me with every kind of conceivable way we can get the word out there about our openings... and to be honest we are kind of in an emergency situation."

According to Leamer's request for action document, the budget impact for increasing the starting salary, plus any effects of existing staff where the internal equity is affected by the external market, is estimated to be approximately $270,550. The budget impact to implement a $0.75 shift differential for the jail and patrol was estimated to be $60,840, however after the commission approved a $1.00 differential, that estimate became closer to $80,000 and change.

Since Leamer and her team do not expect filling of all positions immediately, the impact of both recommendations can be funded within the current Sheriff’s Office budget. The costs for this request can be funded from the first three months of 2023 vacancies.

Kendrick Calfee has been a reporter with the Salina Journal since 2022, primarily covering county government and education. You can reach him at kcalfee@gannett.com or on Twitter @calfee_kc.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Saline County raises correction officer wages to address unfilled jobs