sheriff's Department salary vs. municipal question

[Dan86]

Hi everyone I live in Illinois, the county is LaSalle. Generally speaking I've noticed quite a few of the Sheriff's Departments in my area make quite a bit less then a lot of the towns around here. Ex. three counties surrounding LaSalle County make anywhere from $36,000-$40,000 starting Deputy. One of these counties is the biggest in Illinois land mass wise, but obviously not population wise, but towns within these counties start anywhere from $48,000-$57,000 starting off. Just a general question on why Sheriff's Departments seem to get slapped in the face compared to the town guys. Thanks,

Dan

[just joe]

Salary is generally based off tax base and revenue, as well as equipment expenses plus total number of employees. In some places the sheriff's office is the highest paid agency in the county. The county sheriff still has to run and staff the road, the jail and a communications center, which eats up an enormous amount of his/her budget. In the situation you describe, I would guess the sheriff has to cut the same size pie into a lot more pieces than the municipalities, so everyone's slice of pie is smaller.

[PhilipCal]

Salary is generally based off tax base and revenue, as well as equipment expenses plus total number of employees. In some places the sheriff's office is the highest paid agency in the county. The county sheriff still has to run and staff the road, the jail and a communications center, which eats up an enormous amount of his/her budget. In the situation you describe, I would guess the sheriff has to cut the same size pie into a lot more pieces than the municipalities, so everyone's slice of pie is smaller.

Excellent reply. Consider too, that quite often, the unincorporated areas of a county, are rural in nature. That can result in less tax revenue than say, an incorportated city/town with many businesses/homes etc. There are notable exceptions to this though, and I can think of several counties where pay/benfits are competitive with neighboring cities. Los Angeles County/ Orange County Calif, are two such entities which come to mind. Florida also has several counties where the pay and benfits either equal or exceed those of surrounding cities/towns.

[Xerious]

I work for the county and we have about a half-dozen PD's. We are the lowest paid agency out of all of them. Don't know what I was thinking...

[five0h]

My agency is also one of the lowest paid in our county (I work for a Sheriff's Office). My guess is that since we are by far the largest agency, we have to spread our budget across more Deputies despite the fact that we also have the largest budget. Municipalities have less officers and therefore can pay them more. With that having been said, we deserve a raise...

[boomhower1820]

The city I work for starts out 4k-5k more than the Sheriffs department. When I was a dispatcher I was making more than deputies with same time in. Granted we don't make nearly as much as the numbers you posted above. I can't imagine starting out at 48k. If memory serves our Lieutenant's max out at 60k.

[Xerious]

wow boomhower..LT makes 60k? Here I think our LT's make about 120-130k base.... Deputies max out around 70k base... (about 100k with some OT).

[Michigan]

wow boomhower..LT makes 60k? Here I think our LT's make about 120-130k base.... Deputies max out around 70k base... (about 100k with some OT).

There is a big difference in the cost of living compared to california and.... almost everywhere else. My 2,000 sq ft house cost $160,000. Your $2,000 sq ft house in california costs $4,000,000....

[boomhower1820]

wow boomhower..LT makes 60k? Here I think our LT's make about 120-130k base.... Deputies max out around 70k base... (about 100k with some OT).

Yep, that is the max. Starting is much lower than that. Heck our sergeants are as low as 34k, but all make more than that as that isn't much more than starting salary. We are a small dept. though. A Sgt. and Lt. for each of the four patrol shifts, a detective Lt., a captain and the chief are the extent of the brass. Promotional opportunities are few and far between. Cost of living is fairly low as long as you don't live in the city. A 2000 square foot house can be had for 140k but the taxes in the city are the highest in the state due to some crazy school taxes, and the schools still perform very poorly.

[kckpd756]

There is a big difference in the cost of living compared to california and.... almost everywhere else. My 2,000 sq ft house cost $160,000. Your $2,000 sq ft house in california costs $4,000,000....

True that brother, its all relative to where you live. I bought a 2400 sq ft home for 190,00. Brother in Law lives in Orange Co. Cal. His place is less square footage, no yard (I sit on half acre) and he paid like 600,000

[nasa808]

My pd max out at 105k after 5 years ( waiting for new contract ), where as the Sheriffs Dept tops out at 102l after 9 years. All they take care of is the courts, jails,warrants and they do not conduct road patrol. We have a County PD who basically takes care of certain highways, county parks, buidings,many of the specialized units and the top out at 120 something after 5 years. The funny thing about their contract which always changes since they have a clause which states that they must be in the top 4 in pay in the County.