COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — A pay gap between Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies who work patrol shifts and those who work in the jail is expected to widen next year. Sheriff Ben Wolfinger is asking county leaders to address the issue in the county’s budget as soon as possible.
In the meantime, the wage difference is reportedly causing existing detention deputies to take other jobs or switch to patrol shifts. The Kootenai County jail is currently down seven deputies, according to Wolfinger.
“We always seem to be shorthanded," said Wolfinger on Tuesday. The day before, Wolfinger presented his case for higher detention deputy pay before county commissioners.
Once new pay rates take effect in January, deputies who work patrol shifts will make $24.21 an hour after completing training. The pay rate for a deputy who works in the county’s jail and oversees inmates will remain at $20.52 an hour after completing training as well.
The nearly $4 difference in pay between the positions marks “the biggest gap we've ever seen," said Wolfinger. "That's significant. We've always believed that we can retain detention deputies with no more than a five percent difference. And that goes well beyond a five percent difference."
The lack of detention deputies to carry out jail operations is currently forcing mandatory overtime for existing staff, according to Wolfinger. "It's hard on people, it's hard on their families. And it certainly is a morale buster."
In recent years, employee turnover due to pay has been an issue that the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office has become familiar with. Wolfinger has previously remarked about his deputies leaving his office and chasing higher paying law enforcement jobs in Spokane County or elsewhere.
“You know, somebody called it ‘Groundhog Day’, after the movie,” remarked Wolfinger. “And yeah, it's over and over again."
Wolfinger blames a wage study conducted earlier this year for the pay difference. The study, according to Wolfinger, compared pay rates for Kootenai County detention deputies to those of corrections officers who staff state-run prisons. Differences and workloads between a deputy working a county-run jail and a corrections officer working a state prison for convicted offenders are apparent, the sheriff said.
“They're not like positions and they shouldn't be compared," Wolfinger said.
"There's a certain risk factor there that the prisons don't do," added Wolfinger, saying that managing inmate populations at a local level presents different challenges. "There's a lot of substance abuse that we have to deal with as they come down off of whatever substance they're on. And that's just the beginning of working in the jail."
For now, a pay adjustment will likely be a year out. Wolfinger said that the county’s new budget cycle has started and that it could be some time before county leaders are able to make adjustments.