PUBLIC VIEWPOINT Sheriff ’s Oft ce Salary Increases

Ihave been following the editorials focusing on salaries and pay increases for our county employees and, in particular, the salary increases surrounding the sheriff ’s oftce. It seems to me the salary increases for all county employees have been overlooked for several years and that either the increases in the past were minimal and resulted in our county employees’ salaries below the norm or they just were not a priority.

I believe if one wouldlook at the things the Benton County sheriff ’s oftce is doing to off set what many are calling extraordinary salary increases, they would have a diff erent opinion.

I agree you cannot ask for such high salary increases unless you take action to justify it or take action to offset the increases, and this is what the Benton County sheriff ’s oft ce has done.

They reviewed their entire operations to identify cost that they could reduce and ways they could addadditional income. Here are some of the actions they have taken:

1. They cut the number of wi-fi cards they use in half, resulting in huge savings.

2. They renegotiated the jail phone system contract that will realize a substantial amount of dollars.

3. They added personal items to the commissary for inmates and that money goes to the general fund of the county.

4. They changed their cellphone provider that resulted in thousands ofdollars in savings

They continue to look for and identify ways to reduce cost and improve their income; but more importantly how to retain good quality people.

It was a known fact that the salary increases were going to be very controversial and there was a lot of thought, planning and sacrifice that has gone into the request in order to justify it