As staffing vacancies continue to plague the Greene County Jail — as it has in other county government departments and law enforcement agencies — personnel expenditures are on track to exceed the budget, with excess spending of more than $900,000.
Greene County Budget Officer Jeff Scott explained at an Aug. 22 meeting how staffing the Greene County Jail, in order for it to effectively operate, has contributed to ballooning costs. The crunch is partly due to overtime expenses, ahead of a planned decrease for the 2024 budget.
Despite a nearly 60-percent inmate occupancy of the jail, the Greene County Budget Office projects not only personnel expenditures to be above budget, but operational expenses, which includes supplies and other costs associated with running a jail. Scott attributed much of that to inflation and detention officer job vacancies.
Because funds have already been spent on the anticipated vacancies — known as budgeted vacancies — of other county offices and departments, the excess in spending from the sheriff’s office is a deficit. Budgeted vacancies allow the county government to collect an “allowance” based on expected turnover that can be put towards other financial needs.
Unexpected vacancies, which contribute spending in excess of the budgeted vacancy, aren’t uncommon, and can be used to spend down balances and be put towards the following year’s budget.
“The sheriff's office has red here, which this indicates that the sheriff's office not only doesn't have any excess vacancy, but that spending is spending down into their budgeted vacancy,” Scott said, referencing the Aug. 5 budget analysis.
Spending down to bring vacancy down
In order to run a “safe and secure” jail, Scott said the sheriff’s office needs to operate the jail at a vacancy rate of 4.4 percent, but that they were currently experiencing a 13-percent vacancy. Of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office 625 employees, 449 work at the jail. The jail is staffed based on total occupancy, according to Greene County Deputy Paige Rippee.
“That's causing us to pay overtime to get us down to that 4.4-percent vacancy turnover rate,” Scott said.
The need to pay overtime wages has required the sheriff’s office to spend $647,335 in general revenue and $257,218 in law enforcement sales tax revenues into their budgeted vacancy, totaling $904,553.
A sufficient amount of vacancy in other offices levels out the funding, with a net spending of budgeted vacancy of $4,110.
“However, that doesn't mean that that's going to stay that way,” Scott said. “By the end of the year, we could have an officeholder that has had an amount of budget allocated to them and they have realized excess budgeted vacancy that they would be allowed to pay some of their own overtime on.
“For instance, the County Clerk has $44,917 in excess vacancy right now. We still have a November election, the county clerk does sometimes pay overtime when it comes to elections. So that $44,917 — or if somebody has a need, like an equipment or capital lead, and they have realized vacancy savings, they can come to [Greene County] Commission and say, you've given my office this budgeting money, I want to transfer a portion of what I have saved in my budgeted funds from personnel to equipment to buy something. And then that would be up to the Commission to to weigh out what that department’s needs are compared to what's happened in the operation of the jail. So that's a decision the commission would have to make.”
As of the Aug. 5 county pay period, Greene County has paid $1,364,742 in overtime in 2023, with 94 percent of that being spent in the jail to offset the 42 vacant detention officer positions, according to Scott. The overtime expenses used to cover those vacancies equate to 28 positions. Based on past vacancy data, the budget office projected a vacancy rate of 8.5 percent, or a total of 27 detention officers, for the 2023 budget.
“I don't know what happens if occupancy increases, that's going to be out of what I can know and into what the sheriff is going to request for the 2024 budget,” Scott said. “So filling these 28 positions with people that can do the job, and will stay in the position is imperative to fixing this financial problem.”
Vacancies attributed to widespread workforce challenges
Scott said that while he thought it was “smart” when the sheriff’s office increased the number of detention officers needed to operate the jail from 297 to 317 for the 2023 budget, he doesn’t think they accounted for vacancy.
“With a staff of 317, there's always going to be a certain number of positions that are vacant from turnover,” Scott said.
Scott said the Greene County Human Resources Office has worked “extensively” with the sheriff’s office to fill the job vacancies. Unlike what other county departments are experiencing, the sheriff’s office has received plenty of applications and has filled positions. However, some employees simply aren’t working out.
Greene County Commissioner Rusty MacLachlan reiterated that point, but said that the jail staff leaders are having a hard time retaining new detention officers.
“I think the turnover rate there’s just been, for whatever reason, a little higher than other positions,” MacLachlan said. “Like people have some idea of what law enforcement looks like as a detention officer and get there and find out maybe it's not what they thought it was.”
Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon emphasized the workforce challenges are experienced in other county departments, as well as in the private sector. Scott concurred, in that the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the Highway Department also had “higher than usual” vacancy rates and budget savings.
“However, they have not paid the volume of overtime to keep pace with the volume of work that the sheriff has had to pay to operate a safe and secure jail,” Scott said.
Using the data made available in the most recent pay period, which saw the sheriff’s office’s excess spending increase from $809,000 on July 22 to over $900,000, the budget office made projections for the next 10 pay periods, estimating a $1,402,045 impact, according to Scott. The budget office also projects a need to reduce the budgeted vacancy level, and instead increase the jail’s personnel budget in 2024.
“If this activity has to repeat itself next year, we're not spending $1.4 million on something other than sheriff personnel,” Scott said.
Because of reserves built up from the 2017 general revenue sales tax, Greene County has adequate reserves to handle the additional expenditures, which will be made whole in the 2024 budgeting process, according to Scott.
The Greene County government’s fiscal year is in line with the calendar year. Department heads and the budget office are in the process of working on the FY24 budget. County offices and departments will provide recommendations and requests to the Greene County Commission in mid-September.
