Under the proposal, sheriffs would make no less than $75,000OKLAHOMA CITY — Lawmakers are taking a second look at a controversial plan that could use state dollars to supplement the salaries of sheriffs, deputies and jailers working in some of the poorest counties.Senate budget discussions about creating a sheriff’s office salary assistance grant program began again last week, a day after the House speaker said sheriff and police department funding remained among his chamber’s top budget priorities.Supporters of House Bill 4063 are asking legislators to set aside $20 million to fund new minimum salary thresholds for some county jailers, sheriffs and deputies. Under the proposal, sheriffs would make no less than $75,000. Deputies would make at least $45,000 and jailers, $40,000.They say creating salary benchmarks will help create parity between propertyrich counties and counties that are heavily agricultural or where the state owns thousands of acres of land that it pays no taxes on. They note that counties are capped on how much they can collect. It costs about 30% of what they collect to pay for jail operations, equipment and personnel.Skeptics question why state taxpayers should supplement local government operations, who those law enforcement officers would be working for, and what would prevent sheriff’s offices from buying “toys” like tactical vehicles and other heavy machinery that would not often be used. They also said that the measure is written poorly and urged supporters to go back and rewrite it before they consider it in the final days of session.Under the existing proposal, counties could qualify for grants ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 a year depending on a complex set of criteria that factor in square miles and population.In addition to achieving base salary levels, sheriff’s offices could use the funding to hire additional staff and to purchase vehicles, firearms, and safety equipment.Mike Maxwell, a lobbyist for the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association, said Creek County’s population of about 72,700 will likely be the dividing line between counties that require the supplemental funding and those that do not. Urban and suburban counties already typically pay employees at or above the suggested minimum because sheriff’s salaries are tied to property tax collections.Counties are limited to how much they can collect, and while Maxwell said not all counties have reached that 15-mill limit, those that are predominantly rural have a lot of land that is agricultural. Those lands are taxed at a much lower ...
