Madison County Sheriff’s Office seeks nearly $400,000 for upcoming budget

JACKSON, Tenn. — The sheriff’s department unveiled their budget for next year.

As part of the budget meetings for Madison County, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office made their pitch Thursday.

The sheriff’s office is asking for nearly $400,000 to hire 11 more employees, including four patrol officers and two more investigators.

“It’s hard for us to compete with industry and get the salaries up that industry is paying. We can’t compete with the benefits,” said Sheriff John Mehr.

Last year, the sheriff’s department sued the county, asking for more deputies and a pay increase.

The judge in that case ruled that the department was not entitled to the new officers, but they were entitled to the pay raise.

Thursday’s request for the 11 new employees ran into some obstacles.

“He can put it in there for 11, but are they even going to be able to hire those 11? That’s where we’re really running into a problem,” said Madison County budget chairman Doug Stephenson.

Mehr says it’s going to be years before the applicant pool improves.

And the sheriff’s department said Thursday, their case load has increased in the past year.

“The pool across the country is low for police officers, for jailers, for everybody. So we’re all in competition,” Mehr said.

There was also disagreement about the sheriff’s office estimates, which included the costs of running the new jail.

“I guess my point being is, I want to fund that, what you’re needing, but is this the right amount,” Stephenson said.

“What they’re wanting us to do is speculate, come about this time next year when we go into operation with the new facility, and that’s hard to do without knowing what the number of inmates is going to be,” said Capt. Tom Rudder, a jail administrator.

The jail is slated to open next year, and the county budget committee wants clear answers about what should be expected.

Overall, despite the disagreements, the situation appears better than last year.

“To me, it’s a little more realistic,” Stephenson said.