Deputies and staff at the Sedgwick County Jail will soon see a pay increase.
The Board of County Commissioners approved raising starting salaries from $19.34 to $23.50 per hour for detention deputies, with other pay increases for current staff.
Sheriff Jeff Easter says the jail has 114 openings, with 9 departures last month alone. He says the shortages are due to higher pay offered by other local law enforcement agencies and burnout due to low staffing. He and other senior staff have taken turns working in the county jail.
On the first shift alone, the Sheriff says a fully staffed jail creates a ratio of 30 inmates to one deputy. Right now, the ratio is 75 to 1.
The pay increase is effective August 7th and will cost the county a little more than $2 million through the end of the year. A full year of the updated pay scale will cost around $4.1 million.