Lawmakers are moving forward with a plan to increase sheriffs’ salaries. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY – Lawmakers are moving forward with legislation that would use state funds to help pay for law enforcement operations in the county and set required pay for sheriffs.
House Bill 2914 is committing $18 million in the upcoming budget to create the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Office Funding Assistance Grant program.
It allows counties to apply for grants ranging from $150,000 to $300,000 per year to help offset the costs of sheriff’s office operations. Subsidies would be awarded based on the real estate valuation of the 77 provinces. The poorest countries are entitled to higher amounts.
The measure also establishes a base salary requirement for sheriffs ranging from $44,000 to $74,000.
Counties cannot use the grants to fund the new salary benchmarks, but advocates say the additional aid would help pay for other operating costs, freeing up money to increase the salaries of sheriffs and deputies.
Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, a co-author of the legislation, said he would have liked to see the bill directly fund salaries, but during budget negotiations senators indicated they wanted funding to pay for surgery-related costs.
But he said the measure achieves the same goal, just in a more cumbersome way.
“The sheriff’s offices have a lot of costs besides salaries: their vehicles, their fuel, their ammunition, firearms,” Hilbert said. “This is going to help alleviate that burden, freeing up more money to pay more for sheriffs and sheriff’s deputies.”
Hilbert said the lowest-paid sheriff, who works in Nowata County, made $32,400 in 2023. That meant the county’s highest-paid deputy could make no more than $32,399.
“You can imagine that if you can only pay $32,000 for a deputy, you’re going to have a hard time finding someone,” Hilbert said.
House lawmakers advanced the measure on a 89-6 vote Tuesday.
Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, said he opposed the bill because he was concerned that lawmakers were setting required salaries for county employees.
“I just see it being set up so that every time something needs to be done, they come back to the Legislature, and I think that should be more of a local issue,” he said.
West also said the funding must be repeated in future budget years or lawmakers will pass an unfunded payroll mandate to county taxpayers.
Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, co-author of the bill, said lawmakers want to raise wages in some of the lowest-paying counties in the state, such as Tillman, Cotton and Jefferson counties, and provide deputies with a living wage.
He said Tillman County is 871 square miles, but there are only two officers patrolling it.
Caldwell said that if lawmakers require tasks that cost more than the tax revenue a county can generate, “we as a state have an obligation to step in and help fund these (operations).”
He said lawmakers are responsible for ensuring that all voters in the state have the same level of safety and protection, whether they live in downtown Tulsa “or in the most rural, desolate place in northwest Oklahoma.”
The Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association did not return a message seeking comment.
The Senate is expected to discuss the budget measure later this week.
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