Sheriff's office seeks handbook change on overtime threshold, flags up to $30,000 county impact

The Sheriff’s Office asked commissioners July 22 to align its overtime threshold with the rest of county departments by changing the handbook so officers would earn overtime after the same hours as other county employees. Capt. Josh Busby presented the request and said the change requires a handbook amendment and a budget change for the sheriff’s office. Busby said the current internal rule requires officers to work 86 hours in a two‑week pay period before overtime is paid; the proposed change would match the county’s other departments’ overtime threshold. Based on last year’s overtime, Busby estimated the change would cost the county about $17,000; he said the theoretical maximum exposure if every officer earned overtime on all eligible hours would be about $30,000. The sheriff’s office said it proposed the change as an alternative to large across-the-board pay increases and to improve parity across departments. Busby said the department has experienced staffing shortages, that training and recruitment are costly, and that modest overtime compensation helps with retention. No formal adoption occurred July 22; commissioners said the change would require a handbook amendment and asked that the budget request be considered as part of the county’s FY2026 budgeting work. The sheriff’s office declined to request immediate additional appropriation at the meeting and agreed to pursue the handbook revision and formal budget submission during the budget process. If adopted, the change will be implemented by amending the county personnel handbook and making the necessary budget adjustments in the sheriff’s office appropriation.