GOVERNMENT: JONES 'BLINDSIDED' BY DEPUTY PAY WOES

An angry Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones blasted Cape Girardeau County's sheriff for going public with deputy salary woes after requesting help from the county commission.

"We don't do the budget on the front page," Jones said Wednesday. The presiding commissioner said he first learned of Sheriff John Jordan's request for more money for salaries when he was contacted by the Southeast Missourian after returning from an elk-hunting trip.

Jones said the commission over the years has worked with the sheriff to address budget issues.

"It is beyond me why I would be blindsided by this," Jones said.

Jordan said the department is short two deputies lost to higher-paying law enforcement agencies in Southeast Missouri and elsewhere. Two other deputies are in training and aren't allowed to respond to calls on their own, the sheriff said.

Two other deputies may take jobs soon with the Missouri Highway Patrol, and a third may take a position with Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Public Safety.

That could reduce the county's 13-member patrol division by half by December, the sheriff said.

The beginning salary for a Cape Girardeau County deputy ranges from $19,572 to $20,936. Jordan said the starting salary for road deputies in Scott County is $23,500.

Jones said the commission isn't stopping the sheriff from hiring new deputies. Jordan, however, has argued that it is difficult to hire deputies because of the low starting salary.

Jones said the sheriff hasn't made any specific salary request to the county commission for next year.

But Jordan said he has made a budget request to county Auditor H. Weldon Macke, who is working on the budget for county government for the coming year.

The sheriff said he plans to discuss with the county commission the possibility of his department being budgeted a lump sum. As sheriff, he could then set the individual salaries of his employees.

While he plans to raise the issue, Jordan said he isn't "demanding" the change in how salaries are handled.

Macke said all officeholders in first-class counties have the authority to set salaries for their employees, but so far that hasn't happened in Cape Girardeau County.

Salaries have been set as part of the overall budget approved by the county commission.

County can't compete

Macke said the county can't compete with the salaries paid to Cape Girardeau city police officers. But he said the deputy salary is close to the starting salary for Jackson, Mo., police officers and other area law enforcement agencies.

"We have been working on this to try to do something equitable," he said.

Macke has requested the county's salary committee meet to discuss the issue. The auditor said no date has been set, but it likely won't occur until after Tuesday's election.

Macke serves on the salary committee along with representatives of several other county offices.

The committee meets infrequently. "It is only when we have too much unrest that we call it," Macke said.

Jordan said he plans to sit down with the commissioners within the next several days in an effort to address the salary issue.

"I have every confidence the commission will respond to this emergency," he said. "This is not a battle between myself and the commission."