FOP responds to deputy layoffs: ‘That’s sad’

Lebanon updates law banning vicious dogs
New 4 min. ago
Emergency response team offers training
New 6 min. ago
4-H Club helps erect flag pole at Bentley Woods
New 8 min. ago
City honors life of Lebanon marshal
New 16 min. ago
Cincy State to offer new social media courses
New 18 min. ago
> More headlines

By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer 8:40 PM Wednesday, February 24, 2010

HAMILTON — The union representing Butler County deputies slated for layoff issued a call this week for county leaders to fix the budget for the sake of public safety.

The layoffs of 15 employees announced last week came out of nowhere after the union gave more than $300,000 in concessions last year to save jobs, according to a letter dated Wednesday, Feb. 24, from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 101.

The statement came from the 145-member union’s 13-member executive board at its Tuesday meeting, said union president Sgt. Jeff Gebhart.

It says the FOP’s attorneys are in negotiations with the sheriff’s office administration over “contractual issues” related to the layoffs.

And it criticizes the sheriff’s office for payouts allegedly given to the top brass — some making six figures — at the end of the year, while the rank and file gave up benefits.

“It was deputy sheriffs trying to save deputy sheriffs,” Gephart said of their willingly giving up clothing allowances and overtime pay — totaling a $1,200 a year pay cut to some of the department’s lowest paid employees.

At the same time, sheriff’s office administrators ended the year with payouts for comp time and other benefits ranging from $400 to $9,000, they said.

Sheriff Richard K. Jones announced the layoffs of 15 employees — five deputies and 10 corrections workers — last week because of budget shortfalls.

The FOP says they were told the department was short up to $700,000, largely because they learned a federal stimulus grant counted on to pay for some of those workers expires in April.

Though Gephart said road patrol staffing is at its lowest level since 2005 while the county’s population has ballooned, he stressed that deputies will be there for those who need them.

“We would love the sheriff and the commissioners, the county leaders, to figure out a way to make it a safer community for our citizens by stopping cutting patrol deputies,” Gephart said. “We have resources here ... and nobody can figure our how to put more than four deputy sheriffs on a 12-hour shift in a week? That’s sad.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.

Share this article