Sheriff wants review of office management

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The sheriff in Ohio’s capital city will have a management study conducted after a newspaper analysis showed his office paid $3.8 million in overtime in 2011 and that deputies received 62,000 hours of comp time.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday that Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott requested funds for the study following its analysis of the office. County commissioners have allotted $89,000 for the review, which Scott believes will show the office needs more deputies.

“We are operating on skeleton crews at times,” he said. “I have deputies handling scenes without backup at times.”

The newspaper reports that the hours of comp time amount to an average of 21 deputies off duty each day. It says 44 deputies received at least 30 days of comp time. The hours cost the department because deputies who fill the shifts often receive overtime pay.

The county’s $308 million budget for 2011 allotted $93 million, or 30 percent, for the office, which has about 820 full-time staff members. Deputies’ wages make up $79.4 million of the amount.

Jim Gilbert, president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said deputies are paid for hours they work.

“We only present what we believe to be fair, and if the county signs on to something, it’s on them to explain it to taxpayers,” he said of current contract provisions.

In November, the sheriff needed $9.4 million for payroll for the last six weeks of the year. Though commissioners approved the added funds, they demanded Scott curb spending. He agreed in December to freeze hiring, warning that the change would put the public at risk.