A pay discrepancy for deputies working in the Kootenai County Jail threatens to trigger an exodus in personnel seeking better compensation in other jurisdictions or patrolling streets, county commissioners were told Monday.

The understaffed jail, which is short seven detention deputies, could see things get much worse if pay inequities are not addressed soon, jail commander Lt. Kyle Hutchison said.

“This is the biggest pay gap I’ve seen in 14 years,” Hutchison said. “We’ve been down 15 or 20 (detention deputies) in the past, and if we don’t correct this soon, the future really scares me.”

About 20 detention deputies and senior sheriff’s office officers met with commissioners to make their case for higher jail pay. They said a recent wage study wrongly classified the deputies who oversee inmates at the jail.

Sheriff Ben Wolfinger said the study, performed earlier this year, incorrectly placed Kootenai County’s detention deputies in the same category as jurisdictions with corrections deputies.

“It’s a totally different job with different responsibilities, and that’s where the rub comes,” Wolfinger said. “They’re two difference sciences. Eighty percent of the training is different between the two.”

Detention deputies in a jail setting face a variety of unknowns because they’re dealing with pre- and post-adjudicated inmates. That makes many of the incarcerated individuals more unpredictable and potentially more difficult to deal with, the sheriff said.

Corrections deputies, for their part, deal only with post-conviction offenders — with criminals who have been in custody for a period of time.

“With detention deputies, they’re dealing with a revolving door,” Wonfinger said. “We see different people every day; our prisoners are unmedicated and untreated.”

Commissioners, while sympathetic to the deputies’ concerns, said it was unlikely any adjustments will be made to the fiscal 2020 budget, which has already been adopted. The 2020 fiscal year starts next week.

“I can’t make a commitment to anything before the (2021) fiscal year,” Commission Chairman Chris Fillios said.

While deputies said they appreciated commissioners’ willingness to hear them out, they voiced frustration with what has become a perennial sticking point at the jail: Low pay.

“They (commissioners) say they’ll look into it next year, and that’s what we hear time and time again,” Hutchison said.

A suggestion by Undersheriff Dan Mattos that commissioners consider using $700,000 the sheriff’s office is putting back into general fund balance for FY 2020 to help pay for detention deputy raises was shot down by Fillios.

“If (commissioners) do that for the sheriff’s department we’d have to look at other departments like planning,” Fillios said. “Planners are also being underpaid.”

Wolfinger was unimpressed with the comparison.

“This is public safety,” the sheriff said. “A planner’s a planner.”

Commissioners pointed out that they allocated $1.7 million in the FY 2020 for raises virtually across the board for county employees — mostly in the 2% range. It’s the most set aside in a single budget year for raises at the county in recent memory, commissioners said.

Still, without higher pay at the jail, officials voiced concern about an inability to retain detention deputies.

Wolfinger said his department is losing sworn officers at the jail to patrol simply because of the pay difference.

The starting hourly rate for a patrol deputy is $21.10. A detention deputy starts at $19.92 an hour. Next year, Wolfinger said, the pay rate will have a $4 an hour discrepancy in favor of patrol.

“There guys are going to go the higher-paying jobs, and you can’t blame them,” he said.

Human Resources Director Sylvia Proud said the funds allocated for raises were a step in the right direction and more can be done.

“Just because we’re getting positions moving more toward market (standards), it doesn’t mean we’re done,” she said.

Detention deputy Nicholas Kerfoot said he has not seen a raise in the more than four years he’s been working at the jail.

“I made a lot more in the private sector. Here, I’ve never been able to get ahead,” Kerfoot said. “It’s been one setback after another, and we’ve been told there’s no hope.”

Detention deputies and ranking sheriff’s office officials were not the only ones lobbying commissioners for higher pay at the jail.

Rick Whitehead, who is challenging Wolfinger for the sheriff’s job, said the substandard pay was not just a personnel issue, it’s a personal issue.

“Morale is already at an all-time low,” Whitehead said. “By ignoring this now, it’s just flushing the toilet on this issue.”