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The New Hanover County school district’s $20 million budget hole has been well covered, including here on The Dive. But there’s been substantially less said about a comparable $18.4 million budget shortfall for the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.
The county’s proposed $108-million public safety budget, over 75 percent of which goes to the sheriff’s office, compensates for that. It’s actually slightly higher than the $100.5 million public school budget for the first time in recent history.
The sheriff’s office increase is driven largely by overtime pay for staff, in particular at the detention center, which has been dealing with staffing shortages. There are currently 35 open positions among a staff of roughly 600, and turnover has been high.
Two policy changes last fiscal year also increased overtime costs: raising overtime pay from 150 percent to 200, and compressing the overtime period from 28 to seven days.
The change caught the county off guard. As Chief Financial Officer Eric Credle acknowledged during a budget meeting last week, “We missed that one, for sure.”
So, for the upcoming year, the county has budgeted $11.4 million for overtime at the sheriff’s office. County officials hope that the overtime costs will level out in time, although they’ll still face challenges recruiting and retaining officers.
This budget conversation took less than 10 minutes, without the weeks of turmoil that accompanied the school budget discussions.
For The Dive, Ben Schachtman looks at the differences — and similarities — of issues in public education and public safety: New Sheriff Budget in Town
