Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook made her case for increasing property taxes to the Keystone Heights Rotary Club during the group’s Sept. 15 meeting.
Cook said the proposed 10.7% tax increase county commissioners are considering would help her reduce turnover at the agency and save over $6 million.
Cook began her talk by stressing her budgeting experience with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Atlantic Beach Police Department.
She added that her first official act as Clay County Sheriff was cancelling orders for three Ford F-150 King Ranch pickups, earmarked for some of her predecessor’s favorites within the agency.
“There’s no need for anybody in our agency to drive a big King Ranch pickup truck,” she said. “So I say all that to say I am financially (and) fiscally conservative.”
Turnover costs over $6 million
Cook told the Rotarians that over the last 3.25 years, the sheriff’s office, which employs around 650 people, lost 100 patrol deputies, 42 detention deputies and 38 dispatchers.
“The cost of losing those 180 (staff members) was $6.1 million,” she said, “and that $6.1 million is the cost of recruiting, hiring and then outfitting that person with stuff and equipment that I can’t recoup.”
“What’s happening is people get their state certifications,” she added, “they get into our agency, they get experience, they get additional certifications…and then they market themselves to other agencies that are paying higher.”
Cook said that when adding in civilian employee losses within the agency, the total turnover costs for the sheriff’s office is even higher than the $6.1 million she calculated for patrol deputies, detention officers and dispatchers.
Cook said that one problem is that the agency has no formal compensation plan that increases pay for agency members as they gain experience.
“So, somebody who started five, six years ago at 30 or 38,000 is still making that same rate of pay today,” she said, “and then we wonder why people are leaving.”
Cook also said that deputies joining the agency, knowing upfront that they will be gone in a few years, are less invested in the community.
“If people know that they’re coming in but they don’t plan on working (here) forever, they don’t care as much,” she said. “This is a stepping stone to somewhere else.”
“That’s bad for law enforcement,” Cook added. “I want people who work for the sheriff’s office who are committed to the community and who plan to stay here long term.”
Starting pay lags
Cook added that Clay County’s starting deputy pay of $38,000 ranks behind the Clay County School District Police of $40,000, Orange Park Police at $42,200, Green Cove Springs Police at $43,700, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office at $44,000, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office of $46,000 and the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office at $48,000.
She added that the only nearby agency that has a lower starting pay than Clay is Putnam County, “and they’re about to get a pay raise,” she said.
Cook added that Clay County’s $386.98 in public safety expenditures per resident ranks last in Florida among counties with populations over 200,000.
“There has never been a true commitment of investment into public safety in Clay County,” she said. “Today I am 80 deputies short of where I should be. Today, if you call 911 it’s going to take over 10 minutes for a deputy to get to you. (If) you’re in Duval County, six minutes, (if) you’re in St. Johns County, five minutes. So, we’re almost double the response time due to short staffing.”
We’ll never be St. Johns County
Cook also cited a recent compensation study commissioned by the board of county commissioners that concluded that 37% of sheriff’s office employees were paid below the market minimum.
“So, almost half of my agency is paid below what everybody else around here is making,’ she said. “That’s an issue.”
Cook said the proposed tax increase now under consideration by county commissioners would allow her to bring all of her staff’s pay to the market minimum.
“We’ve got to stop the bleeding,” she said of employee attrition. “Part two of the plan is to implement a modest pay plan commensurate with experience.”
“We’ll never be St. Johns County,” Cook said. “We’re not going to have that tax revenue. We’ll never be Duval County…but we can be competitive and we can be a solid Clay County, and what that means is competitive pay and a good community culture (and) work culture.”
