Sheriff’s deputies in rural Missouri counties, such as Texas, will likely get a boost in pay next year as a result of a $10 fee increase for court summons and subpoena deliveries.
Gov. Matt Blunt last week signed a bill creating a Deputy Sheriff Salary Supplementation Fund at a ceremony in Springfield.
The $10 increase in court-related services performed by deputies will generate $4 to $6 million to distribute to rural counties, where the average starting salary is $22,262, Blunt said.
“This legislation will help ensure they’re more appropriately compensated for the important and sometimes dangerous work that they do for the people of our state,” Blunt said before signing House Bill 2224 at the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
The Missouri Sheriff’s Methamphetamine Relief Taskforce will distribute the funds to subsidize lower paid deputies. The supplemental income will help recruit and retain officers, said Greene County Sheriff Jack Merritt.
Merritt said the new fee is the first rate hike for the $20 charge in nearly 30 years.
Greene, Jasper and other counties around urban centers of Kansas City, St. Louis and Columbia will become “donor counties” and their deputies will not get pay increases, Merritt said.
This was a controversial sticking point in getting the legislation passed because many of those counties wanted to keep the $10 per summons increase, Merritt said.
Rep. Kenny Jones, R-California, the bill’s sponsor, said urban county residents will still benefit from having better paid deputies on the road.
“People in the city, in the summer time, come out to the country,” Jones said at the bill signing.
The Missouri General Assembly passed the bill on the last day of the session after months of negotiations.