Pawnee County Sheriff Worried About Finances And Payroll for Deputies

The Pawnee County Sheriff is hoping there will be a change to how his deputies are paid. 

Sheriff Darrin Varnell says they have to pay overtime, even if the deputies aren't working that many hours, and it's bleeding the budget dry. Sheriff Varnell and a few deputies went to the Pawnee County Commissioners meeting to try and make sense of it. 

"We are literally, for a lack of better term, hemorrhaging comp time, because of the way the payroll is done," Varnell said. 

Sheriff Varnell says deputies are being compensated for 173 hours a month, even if they work fewer hours. 

"The way it is being done right now, anything over 40, we are having to pay them comp time for, so if we put them on a 12-hour shift, they are automatically going to get eight hours comp time every week, that they work that four 12-hour days," he said. 

Varnell and his deputies worry one of the suggested changes in payroll could mean a lower salary for deputies. Sheriff Varnell says there are things in the department that need to be fixed or updated, like deputies' cars or even hiring new personnel, but there's just no money to do it. 

"Training for some of these guys, there's training that they want to go to that's not cheap, but currently they are avoiding that training because the money is just not there to be able to do it," he said. 

He says for employees the situation is great, but the budget and taxpayers, it's awful. Sheriff Varnell says he plans to meet with the commissioner's office to discuss this matter.

The commissioner's office declined to comment on this matter outside of the meeting.