County ponders sheriff’s request for career training and competitive pay hikes

County Sheriff’s Office responds to bomb scare at Warren County High School earlier this year. Royal Examiner File Photos

A work session request by Warren County Sheriff Daniel McEathron for county board approval of an expanded “Career Development Program” and corresponding pay increases for his department met with a mixed reception on October 3.  The cost estimates for implementation were $70,000 for the remainder of the current budget year, and about $140,00 to $170,000 annually after that.

Happy Creek Supervisor Tony Carter expressed resignation at the higher law enforcement and emergency services pay scales other jurisdictions can offer – “Unfortunately we can’t compete with them,” Carter said.

However, asked by Shenandoah District Supervisor Tom Sayre what jurisdictions the county was losing deputies to, Sheriff McEathron replied, “You don’t have to look far,” in pointing to the Front Royal Police Department as a player in the employee “heists”.  The sheriff also pointed to Valley municipalities like Frederick County and Winchester, as well as Northern Virginia communities to our east.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees – I’m not supporting any increases,” North River Supervisor Dan Murray said of the county budget.  Murray suggested exploring cuts to other county departments to fund any increase to another department, including the sheriff’s office.

“I don’t know – in this crazy world law enforcement is a priority,” Board Chair and South River Supervisor Linda Glavis observed just two days after a lone gunman armed with multiple automatic rifles and other guns killed at least 59 people and wounded over 500 more from a high-rise hotel room in Las Vegas.

And public safety versus the dollars and cents (and maybe sense) it takes to achieve it is the dilemma facing legislators across the nation at all levels of government, from the federal to the local.  Currently each penny of county real estate tax generates about $400,000 of revenue.

Warren County Sheriff McEathron recounted how his department continues to lose experienced personnel to other jurisdictions with higher pay scales.  The suggested two-pronged approach could limit such losses in the future, he said.  McEathron told the board that his department had a competitive starting salary but that retention of deputies beginning their careers here becomes problematic with time – “When you’ve got five years experience and are still at the bottom scale it is difficult,” the sheriff told those in control of the county purse strings.

Sheriff McEathron said that now would be the perfect time to commit to a new, more competitive, long-term strategy because recent losses and retirements had reduced the average experience of his deputies to four years.  The Warren County Sheriff’s Office has lost 15 deputies, including a core of eight or nine deputies with a combined 60-plus years of experience, McEathron told the supervisors.

And while the sheriff expressed pride at the fact that he has just lost his second major to become chief of the Front Royal Police Department – on October 1, “Kahle” Magalis joined the retired Norman Shiflett in that category – he did use that fact to illustrated the “pain” of other departmental losses to another law enforcement agency in the same community.

Sheriff McEathron leaves an earlier work session. File Photo

Former town councilman and current Supervisor Sayre commented that he recalled the hard decision the town government made while he was still there to raise the FRPD pay scale.

“Good, can you reverse that?” McEathron injected, trying to lighten the mood.

Asked about the size of his department, Sheriff McEathron said he had 22 patrol deputies and a total of about 72 in other positions.  Those positions include investigations, courthouse security, dispatch, civil processing, animal control and administration.

As part of a 26-page draft proposal for the “Career Development Program” was a list of those county deputy positions, grades, existing salaries, step increases and what appeared to be proposed hikes as part of the program.

As the sheriff concluded his presentation and response to questions, he urged the board to approve the proposal and thanked them for the time to explain its rationale and need.