Santa Barbara County approved a $30,000 new-hire incentive for custody deputies to address the longtime issue of vacancies, and trouble recruiting and holding on to enough people to work in the local jails.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office operates two jail facilities and has about 250 custody deputy positions.
There is currently an 18% vacancy rate, with 32 unfilled positions and 13 people on leave, according to Human Resources staff, and the gap has gotten much worse in the last three years.
The elected Board of Supervisors has become increasingly frustrated with the vacancy rate and the huge overtime costs for the Sheriff’s Office, which were about $12 million last year.
The supervisors unanimously approved the hiring incentives without comment at Tuesday’s meeting.
The incentive will be paid out based on applicants’ experience.
Hires with experience and corrections officer certifications would get the $30,000 when they get hired, while applicants without experience would get the $30,000 in several payments over their first three years of working for the county.
“The incentives will also be tiered in a specified manner aimed at not only attracting qualified candidates to apply, but also to retain those candidates after hire,” according to the Human Resources Department.
Other agencies have found increases in hires since implementing hiring incentives like this, staff said.
The incentives are expected to last for two years, at an estimated cost of $750,000 per year if the county hires 25 people per year.
The supervisors already set aside money to mitigate the Sheriff’s Office overtime usage, and some of that will be used for this plan.
In February, the Board of Supervisors approved a plan to pay $3,000 bonuses as part of a six-month pilot program specifically targeting hires for that “difficult-to-fill” position.
The county was getting fewer applicants and many of them failed the background checks or psychological evaluations, HR assistant director Yvonne Torres said at the time.
“We have an ongoing staffing shortage in our patrol and our custody operations, and this results in high overtime usage,” Sheriff Brown said during budget hearings in May. “And it’s been a chronic problem.”
County Human Resources Director Retiring
This $30,000 hiring incentive came from retiring Human Resources Director Maria Elena de Guevara.
The supervisors passed a resolution Tuesday recognizing her five years as director, and her work launching innovative programs for recruiting and retaining employees.
She thanked the board, saying, “You understood the value of the human resource, our people, and I really want you to believe me when I say that unified vision made my job so much easier.”
She said there have been “great strides in creating a county culture where employees can do their best work so the community can live its best life.”
The supervisors also appointed Torres as the interim HR director. She will head the department until the new permanent replacement, Kristine Schmidt, takes over in January.