Bowie County Sheriff's Office wants to restore the department's budget to pay for a salary increase for deputies as they collect an approximate 6,000 signatures needed to put their parity pay issue before the county commissioners court, said Investigator Robby McCarver.
McCarver said BCSO is paid an average of 31 percent less than both Texarkana police departments and that deputies need community support as they gather the signatures they need.
"The sheriff's office proposes paying for the salary increase by restoring the department's budget," McCarver said. "A few years ago, all Bowie County departments incurred a 15 percent budget cut. That budget cut equated to a loss of five BCSO deputies and one civilian employee. BCSO is doing more with less, and doing so in a time that law enforcement desperately needs community support."
On June 18th, the Gazette reported that deputies were planning on filing for parity pay with the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department in order to retain deputies. McCarver said under the current salary schedule, deputies receive no increases in pay from the date of hire, regardless of the number of years of service and are paid "significantly lower salaries to perform essentially identical duties."
"Deputies with 15-20 years of experience earn the same salary as a new hire," McCarver said. "There has been no raise or cost of living increase since 2008."
According to a report, 36 total deputies are commissioned on staff and 18 have achieved a Master Peace Officer Certificate-the highest level of certification that can be issued by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
"An officer starts with a basic certificate," McCarver said. "After training and years of service, the officer then advances to intermediate, advanced and tops out at master certification level."
Of the 36 officers, 8 have received their bachelor's degree or higher, the report states.
"As previously stated, we desire to work with Bowie County Judge Carlow and the County Commissioners (Court) to reach a solution," McCarver said. "We sincerely hope that they are able to accommodate the needed raise without the need for a ballot initiative. In the interim, we must continue to collect voter signatures as required to present the initiative if needed.
"Community response has been overwhelming," he continued. "In only a few weeks, we have easily attained approximately 70 percent of the nearly 6,000 signatures needed."
McCarver said that deputies expect to have the signatures they need and a completed petition to go before the court within the first week of August.
A Facebook page with petition signing event updates was set up by the county at Facebook.com/SupportBCSO.
"The page was developed to help keep the community up to date on the initiative, as well as provide the dates and locations as to where registered voters can sign a petition," McCarver said.