Lawmakers allocate $18 million to fund county sheriff's operations, create minimum wage | News

THE CITY OF OKLAHOMA — Lawmakers are moving forward with legislation that uses state funds to help fund county law enforcement operations and sets required compensation for sheriffs.

House Bill 2914 provides $18 million in the upcoming budget to create the Oklahoma Sheriff's Office Funding Assistance Grant Program.

It allows counties to apply for grants ranging from $150,000 to $300,000 per year to help offset the cost of operating the sheriff's office. The grants would be awarded based on the property assessment rankings of the 77 counties. Poorer counties are eligible for higher amounts.

The measure also sets a base salary for sheriffs ranging from $44,000 to $74,000.

Counties can't use the grants to fund the new salary benchmarks, but supporters said the additional aid would help pay for other operating expenses, freeing up funds to increase salaries for sheriffs and deputies.

Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, a co-author of the bill, said he would have liked the bill to directly fund salaries, but during budget negotiations senators indicated they wanted funding to pay for operational costs.

But he added that the measure achieves the same goal, but in a more roundabout way.

“Sheriff’s offices have many other costs besides salaries – their vehicles, their fuel, their ammunition, their firearms,” Hilbert said. “This is going to help ease that burden, which will free up more money to be able to pay sheriffs and sheriff’s deputies more.” »

Hilbert said the lowest-paid sheriff, who works in Nowata County, made $32,400 in 2023. That meant the county's highest-paid deputy couldn't make more than $32,399.

“You can imagine if you can only pay $32,000 for a deputy, you're going to have a hard time finding someone,” Hilbert said.

House lawmakers advanced the measure Tuesday by a vote of 89-6.

Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, said he opposed the bill because he feared lawmakers would set the required salaries for county officials.

“I just see it making it so that every time something needs to be done, they come back to the Legislature, and I think it should be more of a local issue,” he said.

West also said the funding should be recurring over the next few budget years, otherwise lawmakers pass an unfunded salary mandate to county taxpayers.

Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, a co-author of the bill, said lawmakers want to raise wages in some of the state's lowest-paying counties, like Tillman, Cotton and Jefferson counties, and bring MPs to a decent salary.

He said Tillman County is 871 square miles, but he only has two deputies to patrol it.

Caldwell said that if lawmakers require tasks that cost more than the tax revenue a county can produce, “we have a duty as a state to step in and help fund those (operations).”

He said lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure that all voters in the state have the same level of safety and protection, whether they live in downtown Tulsa “or in the most rural and the most desolate place in northwest Oklahoma.”

The Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association did not return a message seeking comment.

The Senate is expected to consider the budget measure later this week.

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains its editorial independence. Contact editor Janelle Stecklein with questions: [email protected]. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and Twitter.