Banking on it

Steven McNeill knows a thing or two about dedication.

The Ector County Sheriff's Office patrol sergeant works a lot of hours he doesn't get paid for, and McNeill knows he could make more money if he left for the Odessa Police Department - or Lubbock police, or maybe the University of Texas of the Permian Basin's police force.

But he loves his job and is inspired by the veteran deputies that surround him. He said he doesn't mind working extra hours that he'll probably never see a dime for, and he has no intention of leaving.

"That's just part of the job," McNeill said Wednesday. "Nobody got into this thinking it was going to be a cushy 9-to-5 job where you sit in an office and go home at 5 p.m."

Lucky for Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson, who's had six deputies leave his office in the last two months for better pay elsewhere.

Donaldson said he'll ask county commissioners for an 18 percent raise for all of his peace officers at Monday's 2008-'09 budget meeting in hopes of staying competitive with other local agencies. He said starting deputies make about $28,000 a year now.

"My concern is if we don't do something, we're going to keep losing people," Donaldson said.

Both McNeill and Donaldson said the deputy shortage is making life hard at the sheriff's office.

McNeill said patrol must be fully staffed because those officers are first responders.

And since so many have jumped ship for better pay, deputies are being transferred out of other departments to make sure patrol is covered. That creates a backlog of work, especially for the sheriff's criminal investigations division. They're the people who follow up on things like rapes, aggravated assaults, murders and burglaries.

"We keep losing guys to other agencies, and that makes a big impact on us," McNeill said. "When you leave all these openings in CID and other departments in the sheriff's office, then those jobs aren't getting done."

Donaldson said whoever's left in criminal investigations is seeing an increased caseload, and patrol officers are picking up the slack too.

"Patrol is doing investigations now," McNeill said. "The more workload we have, the less active policing we can do where we're actually looking out for bad guys."

McNeill said response time hasn't been affected much, but his deputies' safety has.

"With Ector County being so big, it's dangerous to have a limited number of people, because your backup could be 20 minutes away - even driving fast," he said.

Donaldson said an 18 percent pay increase would get deputies up to par with starting pay for Odessa police officers, who make about $11,000 more right out of the academy. City Council members approved a raise for Odessa police officers in April.

Right now, a certified Ector County Detention Center jailer makes about $1 more an hour than a new deputy.

"They're not going to apply here if they can make more money somewhere else," Donaldson said.

McNeill said the fact that there's no overtime for deputies doesn't help either.

County commissioner Freddie Gardner said he thinks his colleagues will look favorably at a sheriff's office pay raise, but he'd be surprised if it ends up being 18 percent.

"I know that it's a struggle for the sheriff," Gardner said. "I feel sure that there will be a raise for his people, but I just don't know how much. We'll discuss that in our budget session."

Deputy Stephanie Ramos, who works in jail intake, said pay raises jailers have enjoyed during the past couple of years have really helped out the staffing shortage there.

Donaldson said the jail is down 14 employees right now, and jailers are having to work extra time to make sure they comply with state law that mandates the number of jail employees per prisoners.

Ramos said she'll probably clock around 50 hours this week.

"(The pay raise) helps us compete with other counties," Ramos said. "They can't really compete with the oilfield right now, so it's kind of hard. We're not the only ones hurting. Every county is hurting."

In the meantime, McNeill's keeping his fingers crossed.

"I could understand if we can't complete with Dallas, San Antonio - big agencies like that," he said. "But we're losing them to the OPD, UTPB police - local agencies."

AT A GLANCE

>> What: Sheriff Mark Donaldson is asking county commissioners for an 18 percent pay increase for all of his peace officers.

>> When: Commissioners will discuss the issue at their first 2008-'09 budget meeting at 10 a.m. Monday.

>> Where: Commissioners courtroom, Ector County Administration Building Annex, 1010 E. Eighth St.

>> Why: Donaldson's deputies are leaving his office for better pay elsewhere. He's lost six officers in the last two months. Patrol is only down one position, but only because deputies have been shuffled around from other departments.1