Published: June 24, 2009 04:08 pm      

Sheriff submits new plan to court

During Tuesday’s Budget Hearings, Cooke County Sheriff Mike Compton purposed a trial program to Cooke County Commissioners which he believes will help reduce crime in the county.

Currently the Sheriff Department has 14 patrol deputies and four investigators. As part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), those employees are compensated at regular pay for every 160 hours they work during a 28-day-segment. However once those employees work over 171 hours, they are then paid time-and-a-half over time.

The catch, said Compton, is that in order for an officer to receive over time during that 28-day-period, he must be physically present for 171 hours and cannot take any vacation time.

In an effort to get officers to patrol on their days off, Compton suggested they be taken off FLSA and be placed on a 40-hour work week.

This way, Compton said he could test his trial program and offer a money incentive for officers.

Over one year, Compton said he would like to set up 320 hours of over time to assign to deputies during their time off.

“I would like to call the deputies on their days off and assign them a specified geographical area to work at specific times in an attempt to prevent and/or catch burglars, malicious mischief folks, whatever,” said Compton.

But without a 40-hour work week, Compton said, the deputies would only receive regular pay for working on their days off.

Compton said he was fully aware that this request was a “big ticket item” and that he would support whatever Commissioners decide.

“Whether or not the county could even afford this, is a decision the Commissioners Court is going to have to make,” said Compton. “It’s fair and it’s equitable, but it may not be affordable and we have to go with what we can afford.

I have no intention of asking for things that’s going to affect folks’ taxes. Commissioners Court has a difficult task in trying to fund everything that needs to be funded by the moneys they have available and I support them in whatever their decision is.”

During the hearing, Cooke County Human Resources Director Jennifer Eberle said the 320 day trail program would cost the county around $8,600, not including retirement which “would be really hard to estimate.”

Although that is only a base amount, Compton added, it would still be cheaper than hiring a new deputy to the department.

For his No. 1 request, Compton asked Commissioners to consider allocating budget funds towards hiring another criminal investigator for the Sheriffs Department.

Currently, the department has a tremendous case load which Compton said is too much for current investigators to handle alone.

The cost for a new criminal investigator would total around $54,000 plus $22,000 for an additional vehicle.

Cooke County Budget Hearings will continue today in the Cooke County Courthouse and will adjourn at 3:30 p.m.

Once the hearings are done, Commissioners will meet with the Cooke County Auditor and Tax Appraiser to decide how to allocate the county’s revenue. Before the budget can be approved in Commissioners Court, another public hearing will be held and all entities involved will be given copies of the proposed budget.