Staffing struggles continue to be a concern for Taylor County Sheriff’s Department

Staffing continues to be a major headache for the Taylor County sheriff’s department.

Sheriff Larry Woebbeking told members of the county’s law enforcement committee on Aug. 12 that they continue to be short-staffed especially in the jail.

“We have been short-staffed for over a year or better,” he said. They are currently down three positions and anticipate losing another. He suggested he may need to move a road officer into the jail to fill shifts at times.

“We can’t seem to fill them,” he said, noting that applications are down and that even when the people go through the application process and get an interview, half of them simply don’t show up.

He said being constantly short-staffed then puts more burden on everyone else and they end up over-working those employees causing them to leave.

“Do we have any solutions?” asked committee member Ray Soper asking if it was the job requirements or pay or something else.

Woebbeking said he thinks there are several reasons. A major one is that the jail runs 24/7 and people are not as open to working night and weekend shifts. “Not everyone wants to work anymore,” he said.

He also noted that some have applied and been hired but after a short while quit saying they didn’t realize how uncomfortable the shift structure would be in their lives. “Competitive pay is a solution to some of it,” he said.

Committee chairman Lester Lewis asked if the county was competitive. “We are on the lower end of being competitive with other counties,” Woebbeking said on the state level. However he noted that not all counties could pay like Marathon County does to the east of Taylor County. He said they pay more, but even they are having trouble filling positions.

Woebbeking noted at this point that they are looking at applicants that they probably wouldn’t have considered in the past. Woebbeking said being a jailer/ dispatcher is hard work. “I can’t give them a hug every day when they come in, but they deserve one,” he said.

Lewis said the problem is not unique to Taylor County. “This is a common theme throughout government employment,” he said, noting that 10 years ago the county would have been flooded with applicants.

“Government isn’t viewed as a favorable place to work,” he said, noting especially now with government having to compete with factories who are paying high wages.

“Is there a solution? If there is I don’t know anyone who has come up with one,” he said.

Committee members reviewed the sheriff’s budget for the coming year. The proposed budget calls for an increase in costs of about $60,000 over the current budget with the largest area due to increasing fuel costs.

Woebbeking estimated the fuel cost at about $4 per gallon. Lewis said this was fine to do as a worst case scenario and noted the price has been dropping significantly. He said it is important to budget at a worst case scenario and then if they don’t use it, the county can always put it toward something else.

Offsetting the increase in costs, Woebbeking projected an increase of $80,000 in revenues due to the amount of inmates from other counties being housed here.

Soper asked if there was room for the county to cut the number of deputies or jail staff. The question drew concern from other committee members, but Soper said he needed to gather the information so that as a member of the county’s budget committee he could make a decision. “I have to know when sitting in finance committee what is going on,” he said.

“We have to have the discussion,” Lewis agreed, stating that he didn’t think cutting back officers was reasonable.

According to Woebbeking, the county has two uniformed officers on the roads day and night. During the daytime there is additional staff with the administration personnel as well as the investigators. He said leaving one person on the road overnight would give a very large area to cover and provide no support if they had to handle things such as a domestic dispute or a bar fight.

Committee member Lori Floyd, who had a career in law enforcement in rural areas, was opposed to reducing road staff noting that there is a big difference when you are going into a situation and you know you are all alone.

Floyd said law enforcement was not the place to cut and suggested that one of the issues with recruitment is the low image people have of law enforcement.

In the end, committee members voted to approve the budget and forward it to the finance and personnel committee to be included in the overall county budget review next month.