The Chattooga County Sheriff's Department has changed its schedule for deputies again. In fact the latest schedule was begun before the initially amended schedule could be instituted.

Last week AM1180 reported that the department will go from an 84 hour work schedule per two-week pay period, to an 80 hour schedule, with no overtime. The amended schedule reflects those same total hours per pay period.

The first new schedule was supposed to have begun on Sept. 27, but instead complaints from deputies led to a different schedule. The original schedule change had first shift deputies working from 7 AM to 3 PM with an overlapping shift coming on duty at 11 AM and working until 9 PM. Second shift comes on at 5 PM and works until 3 AM. Third shift patrol hits the streets at 9 PM and works until 7 AM. It had deputies working 10 hour days instead of 12.

The initial schedule change was to address the county's budget woes, since County Commissioner Jason Winter's says that the county cannot cover the budget overruns of the Sheriff's Department.

The updated change puts deputies back on 12 hour shifts for the most part, with each shift beginning two hours earlier, or lasting two hours later than the previously reported schedule. Once every two weeks, or once per pay period, each deputy will shave 4 hours off that schedule, that keeps the pay period at 80 hours. Deputies began working the newest schedule on Sept. 27.

Captain Ken Anderson said, deputies weren't crazy about the 10 hour work days since they lost their long weekends every other weekend. Many Sheriff's Department Deputies have second jobs they work on weekends. Anderson said this schedule should be more workable.

This schedule, as did the initial change, puts some officers in different rotations but should save the department a little more than $900 per pay period or just more than $1900 per month.

Anderson says the new schedule will keep deputies on the roads at all times and will help alleviate some of the department's budget problems.

 

It had been reported that the sheriff’s department was looking at furloughs to reduce the budget but that is not the case. Anderson told AM1180 last week that the Sheriff's Department is not considering employee furloughs at this time.