Warrick County council approves funding to add four jailers for new facility

Sheriff Mike Wilder asked the Warrick County Council on the meeting floor to approve funding for four additional jailers as the sheriff's office prepares to move into a new, larger detention facility this spring.

Wilder told the council the new building will grow the jail from roughly 32,000 square feet to about an 84,000-square-foot facility and that his office is short-handed: "we only have three jailers overseeing a 100 people," he said, describing safety concerns and limits to how the current staff can operate. He said a roughly $1.7 million balance in the county's public-safety local income tax (LIT) fund "can only be used for public safety" and proposed using part of that balance to hire the additional staff.

The sheriff provided an approximate staffing-cost estimate and asked the council to cover three years of salaries for the four positions; he said his rough calculation for that period, including payroll taxes, was about $800,000. Wilder described the request as necessary to "truly utilize the spaces" in the new facility and to protect both staff and inmates as operations expand.

Council members discussed whether the hire would be a temporary fix or an ongoing expense. A council member raised a concern that the available LIT balance would cover positions for only about three years, and Wilder replied the LIT receipts provide an ongoing revenue stream and that the funds being proposed for use were unrestricted within the public-safety LIT. After discussion, the council moved to approve the request and carried the motion by roll call, with all present members voting yes.

The council recorded the vote as unanimous; the sheriff said he plans to coordinate timing for hires as the facility move-in approaches in May and June. The motion carried 7-0.