Sheriff’s office requests overtime to start at 80 hours every two weeks, just like for everyone else

​YORK – The York County Sheriff’s Office is requesting overtime hours to start at 80 hours every two weeks, for its deputies and staff, instead of having them wait until 86 hours to earn extra pay.

​York County Sheriff Captain Josh Gillespie met with the York County Commissioners this week to talk about the proposal.
“We are talking about over-time hours. In the employee handbook, for a long time now, it says officers would need 86 hours in two weeks to start getting overtime pay. This board has been trying to make all things equal among employees. And we would like to move that number of hours to 80 so it is consistent with all the other employees,” Captain Gillespie said. “It would take some finances. We are including this in our budget and it would be needed to be changed in the employee handbook as well.”
“What kind of figures are we looking at?” asked Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier.
“Based on last year, it would be about $17,000, I think the maximum for the county would be $30,000,” Captain Gillespie responded. “So we are asking for this instead of a wage increase. This would be in lieu of a raise.”
“In the budget we are dealing with right now, would the $30,000 affect anything else in your budget, other than raises?” Obermier asked.
“Yes, we’d be putting off raises and we’ve worked out some vehicle needs as we are trying to stay within the percentages requested by the board,” Gillespie said. “We are trying to be fiscally responsible and we are also trying to retain our employees as we have great officers who are doing an excellent job. We are staffed, right now, fairly well, as we just filled our last position. We will still be in the process of training for two as one is in the academy now and another is going in August.”
“Josh (Gillespie), the sheriff, HR and I talked about this and I asked him to present this to the board,” said Commissioner Daniel Grotz.
“Yes, it would take a handbook change,” Obermier acknowledged.
They will consider the matter as the budget formulation process continues.