This month, Kanawha County employees will see their first raise since 2022 as the Kanawha County Commission passed a 6% raise for all county employees. Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office deputies will receive an additional 2% raise.
Kim Fleck, county finance director, said the raise would cost the county $1.7 million. It will go into effect Sept. 16 and be seen on employee paychecks at the end of the month. The county has approximately 500 employees, including KCSO.
County Commission President Ben Salango said the commission had considered this raise, but they were waiting to see what revenue looked like.
The raise in 2022 was just a cost-of-living adjustment.
After the meeting, he said the county had consistently collected about $4 million more than their operating costs for the last few years. These funds are called carryover.
“We think it is safe [to assume] that we’ll continue to have some carryover, not necessarily $4 million, but we think we’ll have some carryover,†he said.
KCSO raise
Deputies received an 8% raise to put their pay on par with other sheriff’s departments in the area. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office advertises annual pay of $60,243.04. Cabell County Sheriff’s Office advertises annual salary of $56,012 to $59,012.
Sgt. Josh Lester, KCSO spokesperson, said the updated starting pay has to be calculated. That number will be available next week. Currently, KCSO salary for deputies post-training is $52,728 to $60,637.
Jeremy Young, county manager, said the raise puts the KCSO pay for deputies near the top for departments in southern West Virginia. A few northern counties such as Berkeley County and Harrison County do pay more, Young said.
Sheriff Joe Crawford said that the raise would help with retention. A lot of deputies have been lost due to retirement, in addition to deputies leaving for better pay elsewhere.
The KCSO has 109 deputy positions, including sheriff and chief deputy. They currently have 96 deputies.
“ This will help us be able to recruit the best and brightest,†Crawford said. “Because when [the news] gets out there, and we can sit there and say, ‘Hey, we're at the top of the scale.’ That makes …recruiting so much easier."
Other allocations
The commission also gave their annual allocations of $5,000 to 10 local food banks and $50,000 to the Metro Drug Enforcement Network Team to use in undercover drug purchases.
MDENT, which combines local county and municipality law enforcement agencies, has dismantled two drug trafficking organizations this year, resulting in 25 to 30 arrests, MDENT supervisors told commissioners Thursday.
Salango said the money is used to for undercover drug purchases and tracked to uncover both the flow of money and of drugs.
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