Wednesday, February 18, 2004
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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 |
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County, sheriff’s officials sparring over overtime pay By JOHN THOMPSON The latest salvo in the ongoing dispute between the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department and Fayette County was fired at the end of January when the department asked for $50,000 for additional overtime funds. But County Administrator Chris Cofty said the issue is really not going to be studied until budget time in June, and believes the issue can be solved relatively easily. “He’s got ample money in his account to transfer,” Cofty said. In a letter to Fayette County Commission chairman Greg Dunn, Maj. Robert Glaze outlined the reasons for the additional funding. The major explained the department opened the jail last year and was authorized to have 95 officers. But since last June, the department has lost 28 employees, with the majority of them resigning. Glaze said the department had 92 officers on Jan. 26, but has only $990 left in the overtime account. “The primary expenditures of overtime occur while filling shifts with qualified personnel due to training matters, unexpected shortages of personnel due to illness, funeral leave, etc.’” Glaze wrote. In order to work at the jail, an officer has to complete a basic jail training class. Since last July, the department has sent 15 officers to the class, which makes it difficult to adequately staff the jail. “Simply put, five personnel attending an 80-hour basic jail officer course equals 400 man hours which have to be covered by other personnel in the jail,” Glaze said. Glaze added the jail division was allocated $75,000 in 2002 for overtime, but had that money cut to $50,000 this year. But Cofty sees the issue differently. “At this point in time, the jail budget has $1.8 million in unencumbered funds in total. It does appear that a budget transfer within your department could assure sufficient funds are available to meet this need,” he said. Cofty said the staff will review the issue in June to determine the amount of funds needed and which line items in the budget have funds for the transfer.
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