2023 Boone County budget prioritizes pay increase for law enforcement

COLUMBIA Mo. (KMIZ)

Increased salaries for sheriff's deputies and other emergency employees are a priority in the 2023 Boone County budget approved Thursday, with officials citing the need to reverse "unprecedented employee turnover and lengthy vacancies."

The No. 1 priority listed in the budget prepared by the county auditor is workforce retention and reducing vacancies. The budget includes nearly $600,000 to increase the salaries of law enforcement and 911/emergency management.

The Boone County Sheriff's Office has been advertising open positions on its social media pages, citing starting pay of $32.16/hour for jailers and $38.23 for deputies. The posts highlight pay increases in 2023, which will apply to all positions in the department.

According to Captain Brian Leer in an interview from Dec. 9th, there are numerous jobs available besides being a sheriff's deputy.

"We have have positions too that aren't out there fighting crime everyday," Leer said. "A lot of our support personnel are not sworn which means they're not peace officers, they're not deputy sheriff's. They work in the office or in a controlled environment back in the jail."

Along with deputies and deputy trainee's, these positions will also receive a pay raise.

There are currently 34 positions open within the Boone County Sheriff's Office.

According to Leer, a benefit of joining the deputy's is that the county will pay for your training as well as pay you a salary while still in training.

"We pay for the police academy tuition plus we pay them their salary while they're in the academy," Leer said. "When they come out, they get moved to a deputy sheriff position which is about a pay increase of about $14,000 a year to go from the deputy sheriff training to a deputy sheriff." 

Job postings, descriptions and applications can be found on the sheriff's office website.

Check back for more on this developing story.