Lee County sheriff says 5% pay increase needed to recruit, retain deputies

LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) — Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno says a 5% pay increase approved for county employees and employees of constitutional offices is necessary to keep experienced deputies and remain competitive as the agency works to replace roughly 100 employees it loses each year.

Lee County commissioners approved the increase during the county’s final budget hearing Tuesday. Commissioners had previously settled on a 4% increase before Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass made a motion to increase it to 5%.

The motion passed 3-2. Budget documents presented to commissioners put the Lee County Sheriff’s Office General Fund allocation for the upcoming fiscal year at approximately $345.4 million, compared with $327.7 million adopted for the previous year. An increase of about $17.7 million.

The budget increase is not solely tied to employee raises. Marceno told WINK News approximately 80% of the Sheriff’s Office budget goes toward personnel, while the agency is also facing increased medical, retirement, health care and other operating costs.

When asked why the 5% increase is necessary, Marceno provided the following statement:

"Our Deputies are our greatest assets, and we have to be able to recruit and retain the very best to protect the great residents of Lee County. A 5% increase is an investment in keeping experienced people here, attract qualified applicants, and maintain the staffing necessary to provide the highest quality service to our residents,” Marceno said.

Marceno told WINK News the Sheriff’s Office loses an average of 100 employees each year, with the majority coming from certified positions. Replacing those employees can take considerably longer than simply filling an open position.

When asked how important recruitment and retention are to the agency’s budget, Marceno said:

“It's extremely important. Approximately 80% of our budget is personnel costs, because you can't provide 24/7 public safety without boots on the ground. On average we lose 100 employees a year, with the majority being certified positions. Every person has to be replaced, and replacing a certified employee isn't as simple as posting a job and hiring someone the next day. It can take a year to recruit, train and certify a replacement. Competitive compensation helps us keep the experienced people we already have and gives us a better chance of attracting the people we need for the future,” Marceno said.

The 5% increase will bring starting pay for a certified deputy from $68,000 to $71,400. Marceno said the higher starting salary is intended to help LCSO compete with other law enforcement agencies in Southwest Florida.

"Being able to increase the starting pay for a certified deputy from $68,000 to $71,400 makes us a competitive agency. This matters because all agencies in SWFL are competing for the same workforce. We needed this increase to recruit qualified people, but LCSO offers more than a paycheck. There are tremendous opportunities for someone who wants to build a career.

A deputy has the ability to move into specialized areas like aviation, marine, K9, SWAT, etc. We want someone who is considering a career in law enforcement to look at LCSO and say, 'This is an agency where anyone can build a career, grow professionally, serve a great community and be a part of something bigger,” Marceno said.

The additional percentage point was not unanimous. Commissioners had discussed a 4% increase during previous budget deliberations. At Tuesday’s final hearing, Pendergrass made the motion to increase it to 5%. Pendergrass said he trusted the county’s constitutional officers and department heads to make future budget adjustments if necessary.

“I trust our constitutionals; I trust our department heads to make the right adjustments in their budgets for the future to provide the levels of service we currently have now. I just think this is the right thing to do,” Pendergrass said.

The motion passed 3-2, with Commissioners Brian Hamman and David Mulicka voting against the increase. During the discussion, Mulicka said he wanted to protect existing positions and stick with the agreement commissioners had previously reached.

“I’m trying to protect whole jobs, and I, we, if we, you give raises, you can’t give deducts, uh, when times are bad. I think the deal we made was the deal that I support,” Mulicka said.

The vote came as commissioners are also considering the potential effect of Amendment 3 on future county revenue. Two weeks before the final budget hearing, county staff presented projections showing Amendment 3 could reduce Lee County property-tax revenue by approximately $121 million in the first affected budget year and $159 million the following year.

Those figures are projections rather than confirmed future losses. The county’s modeling was designed to illustrate potential impacts and assumed a flat operating budget without growth or inflation. Hamman cited uncertainty over future revenue while explaining his vote. He said falling market values or Amendment 3 could create a situation in which the county needs to rely on its reserves.

“We’re going into a period where we may lose a tremendous amount of revenue, maybe even just because market values are coming down, but, but possibly even because of Amendment 3. That might be the scenario where we have to use some of these reserves,” Hamman said.

Hamman said his approach was to preserve more of those reserves to potentially lessen the effect of future budget reductions.

“Just from my reasoning, I wanna, like we talked about, preserve whole people, stick to what we talked it, about at the workshop and my strategy was if we had more reserves, we could maybe use those to soften the blow from the cuts that we’re gonna potentially have to make in the future. But it was not, and it is not, a commentary on our employees,” Hamman said.

WINK News asked Marceno why the county should commit to the additional pay now while future revenues remain uncertain.

“Lee County continues to grow, tourism is at its all-time high, development is expanding, and the demands on our deputies and employees continue to grow every day. We have to remain competitive in the labor market. If we allow compensation to fall behind, it will make recruitment and retention harder, and that could ultimately lead to staffing or operation issues. This budget is not about adding unnecessary capabilities. Its focus is on maintaining public safety and providing the highest level of service to Lee County residents,” Marceno said.

WINK News also asked what LCSO would do if future revenues decline.

“If revenues change, we will work with the Board of County Commissioners to evaluate the budget, as does all departments. But our responsibility is to make sure we maintain the operational ability to protect our community around the clock,” Marceno said.

Marceno said several other costs are driving the Sheriff’s Office budget beyond compensation, including approximately $3.1 million for inmate medical costs, $2.5 million for employee retirement contributions, $2.1 million for health care and $1.5 million related to the loss of the inmate welfare fund.

Marceno provided the following full statement on the budget:

"This budget is focused on maintaining our current public-safety and the increase is being driven largely by costs we have to absorb to continue providing those services. Some of the largest increases include approximately $3.1 million for inmate medical costs, $2.5 million for employee retirement contributions, $2.1 million for healthcare, and $1.5 million related to the loss of the inmate welfare fund. We also have contracts and other service costs that are unavoidable. About 80% of our budget is personnel costs because public safety is labor intensive.

You need boots on the ground, correction deputies in our jail, deputies providing court security and people supporting all of those operations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So, when you look at the increase, it's important to understand that this isn't simply more money for a larger agency. It's largely the cost of maintaining the level of public safety and services that Lee County already expects and depends on," Marceno said.

WINK News also reached out to Lee County commissioners about the decision.