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HC Sheriff Mark Davis
Because of staff storage, fuel and food price increases, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office requested $45,000 more budgeted for the Fiscal Year 2023 budget for jail operations and law enforcement services.
During the Commissioners Court budget workshop conducted on July 12, Sheriff Mark Davis explained the key increases during a presentation of his budgets for jail operations and law enforcement.
The biggest increase was $37,000 for overtime pay in jail operations as Davis requested an increase from $17,000 to $50,000 for FY 2023.
“The sheriff and I had a discussion about two months ago where he stated he was on the verge of possibly adding at least one person in the jail,” said County Judge Wayne McDaniel. “Sheriffs are mandated to have a set number of correction officers per inmate, depending on the population at the time.”
McDaniel said he asked Davis to consider an increase in overtime instead of adding another employee in jail operations.
When asked if the additional amount would cover the overtime, Davis said he didn’t know.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “The issue is anytime that you add overtime monies, in lieu of hiring staff, you run into that age-old problem of throwing all the money in the world at something and you’re taxing your employees to the point where they can’t get a day off. And you’re calling them back on their day off to cover as overtime.”
Davis said employees are working their four 12-hour days and their 1-3 days off are spent covering because of being shorthanded or the high jail population.
“We are fairly in decent shape as far as manpower goes,” he said.
Davis said he has a couple of openings and has hired some qualified candidates.
“We’ve had better luck on the jail side rather than on the law enforcement side,” he added. “Historically, we are seeing that across the state, finding qualified people in law enforcement.”
The sheriff noted because of the jail’s fire and control panels, and all the life-safety equipment being down, he’s had to reallocate his staff to be on “basically fire watch.”
“Normally with all equipment working, there’s a lot we can do remotely,” he said. “We don’t have to have those people stationed down the hallways ever 20, 30, or 40 feet watching for or listening for emergencies.”
“Until we get those control panels back up and running to full function, that’s what we are up against. That’s why it is eating us alive on our overtime budget.”
As of May 26, $53,201 has been spent on overtime in jail operations. Only $17,000 was budgeted for this fiscal year.
“We’ve got to have these extra bodies and there is no way to get them other than try to convince somebody to come in on their day off and work,” Davis said.
When the equipment is back up and functioning, Davis said the county will see the overtime drop.
“We can handle the (jail) population with the staff we have,” he added. “It’s the other things now we are asking the jailers to do that the technology does for us.”
The sheriff said the contractor working on the equipment is having a tough time securing parts.
“I do see the end coming and a better outlook for FY 2023 than I did for FY 2022,” Davis said. “We are still going to have need for those extra bodies. It’s a stop-gap, I’ll be honest with you. As opposed to hiring two, three, or four and all the fringes that come with it, we added a little bit to the overtime.”
Davis said he’s fortunate to have staff who is willing to give up their days and come to work. “That’s only going to last so long, as you know. It’s not going to last forever because they’ll get burned out,” he said. “They’re tired and if something else comes along that’s a better job with a more steady schedule, they’ll leave you.”
The sheriff said he’s trying to keep the morale up so his employees will come to work when needed.
Davis said he currently has three openings for law enforcement and one in the jail. He added a jailer’s salary in the mid-$60,000 range including fringes.
Davis said he’s not housing any other prisoners from other counties.
“We’ve been running between the 175 and 179 range. We’re licensed for 196 and are at 177. We are full,” he added.
Pct. 1 Commissioner L.W. Cooper Jr. said if it gets to a point where the court can afford hiring 2-4 people, we might go “privatize.” “And we don’t want that,” he added.
Davis asked for a $9,000 decrease in jail supplies to $45,000 and $7,000 for training.
The sheriff also requested a $10,000 increase in prisoner food to $190,000.
Davis said the food suppliers have given him a “heads up” for a price increase this budget year and then another.
In law enforcement, the sheriff requested a $15,000 increase in fuel to $105,000 and a $3,000 increase in overtime to $15,000.
“I think the sheriff has done a good job over the past few years in trying to maintain a minimum budget,” said Pct. 2 Commissioner Chris Kirkendall.