County struggles with retaining jail staff

McCOOK, Neb. -- Red Willow County's jailers and jail administrators are getting raises mid-stream only because one jailer has quit and jail supervisor Gerry Hunter and Sheriff Alan Kotschwar have decided not to fill the vacancy.

The county's jail staff members will each get raises of about 82 cents an hour, or about $150 a month, as Hunter addresses the need to keep good staff members and attract good candidates by paying competitive wages.

Hunter told county commissioners during their weekly meeting Monday morning that the salary of the jailer who just left can be distributed among the remaining staff, and a replacement not hired. Hunter said a full staff, including himself and administrative assistant Dee Schilz, is 15. He has two vacancies now, in addition to having one jailer deployed.

Commission chairman Earl McNutt studied the results of a survey of salaries paid to jailers across the state, acknowledging that Red Willow County "is behind the eight ball" in comparison to what counties of like size are paying their jail staff members. He said that Phelps County (in Holdrege) has a starting wage for jailers of $13.38 an hour, and $14.71 to $18.07 an hour for sergeants.

Red Willow County's pay scale ranges from $11.85 to $13.11.

Other counties of similar size to Red Willow County with higher pay scales ($13.50 or higher; some lieutenants earning $30 an hour) are Madison, York, Otoe, Platte and Custer. Even Frontier County, which is smaller, pays jailers $15.48 an hour.

McNutt said, "We're below pay scale. We're not taking care of our employees, to keep them."

Fellow commissioner Vesta Dack said, " We hire them, we train them, we spend money, we ask them to protect us, and they leave because we're not paying them enough."

Hunter said that it's tough to hire good applicants at the pay scale the county is now offering.

McNutt said he hates to give raises "in mid-stream," any time after each year's budget is adopted, but he acknowledged Hunter's and Kotschwar's difficulties in retaining and hiring good staff. Hunter and Kotschwar assured commissioners that the overall salaries budget line for the jail for 2016-2017 would not increase.

These raises, approved unanimously on a motion by Dack and a second by Steve Downer, is retroactive to Nov. 16.