Lawmaker Pushes for Improved Salaries for Virginia Sheriff's Deputies

TAZEWELL, VA — A delegate representing Southwest Virginia still has hopes to get salary increases for the state's deputies despite an amendment for a 7% salary increase not getting into the proposed state budget.

Delegate James W. Morefield, R- Tazewell, said he introduced a budget amendment for a 7% percent salary increase for sheriff's deputies.

"Unfortunately, we learned that it was not included in House Bill 1600," Morefield said. "Sheriff's deputies are long overdue for a significant pay increase. They work extremely hard and put their lives on the line every day."

Morefield said he was hoping Gov. Glenn Youngkin would have included the salary increase in his budget amendments, but he did not.

"That would have helped our chances of having the amendment included in HB 1600," he said. "The budget process has just started and there is still an opportunity to get support for the sheriff's deputies."

There is a 3% pay raise for all deputies in Virginia no matter what their duties are, Tazewell County Sheriff Brian Hieatt said Wednesday.

"What he (Morefield) was looking at was an additional increase for the deputies that are on patrol because oftentimes they're out there by themselves and training a patrol officer is more intensive than what a deputy who works in a jail has," Hieatt said.

"The Virginia Law Enforcement Sheriff's Association has been asking for a pay increase for those deputies with law enforcement certification. Morefield introduced a bill to increase pay, but it unfortunately did not get enough votes," Hieatt said.

Members of the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office attended the Southwest Virginia Legislative Reception from Jan. 29 to 30 in Richmond, Va. where they met with delegates and senators representing Southwest Virginia's counties.

Besides increasing deputies' pay, representatives of the region's law enforcement agencies also spoke about the need to increase 9-1-1 dispatchers' pay substantially, Hieatt said. A measure to do that did not pass in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

Emergency dispatchers have to undergo stressful training, plus they are the first to handle emergencies when they occur, he said.

"They are the very first people who help you through an emergency, so I hate the additional funding didn't get approved for them," Hieatt said. "This would have been a 9.3% increase in proposed starting pay and the ones who are already in those state positions."

Hieatt said members of his office and the region's other law enforcement agencies attended that Southwest Virginia Legislative Reception so delegates and senators can learn about the different situations agencies face in Southwest Virginia and northern Virginia.

"We're more rural — Tazewell County's the fourth-largest county land wise in Virginia — but our manpower is based on population, not land mass," Hieatt said. "We'd like to try to add some kind of calculation to take in land mass when you talk about how many deputies a county can have."

The Tazewell County Sheriff's Office has 26 deputies, but they have to provide 24-hour coverage seven days a week, he said. A deputy in Jewell Ridge might need 45 minutes to an hour to respond if 9-1-1 gets a call from Falls Mills, Va.

"That's a long distance," Hieatt said. "We have a large county."

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