Lawmakers are moving forward with a plan to boost sheriff salaries. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY — Legislators are moving forward with legislation that uses state funds to help pay for county law enforcement operations and sets required pay for the sheriffs.

House Bill 2914 appropriates $18 million in the upcoming budget to create the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Office Funding Assistance Grant program.

It allows counties to apply for grants ranging from $150,000 to $300,000 a year to help offset the cost of sheriff’s office operations. Grants would be awarded based on the 77 counties’ property valuation rankings. The poorest counties are entitled to higher amounts.

The measure also sets a base salary requirement for sheriffs ranging from $44,000 to $74,000.

Counties can’t use the grants to fund the new salary benchmarks, but supporters said the extra aid would help pay for other operating expenses, freeing up funds to boost sheriff and deputy salaries.

Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, a co-author of the legislation, said he would have loved for the bill to directly fund salaries, but during budget negotiations, senators indicated they wanted funding to pay for operations-related costs.

But he said the measure accomplishes the same purpose, just in a more roundabout way.

“Sheriff’s offices, they have many other costs outside of salaries — their vehicles, their fuel, their ammo, firearms,” Hilbert said. “This is going to help alleviate that burden, which frees up more money to be able to pay more for sheriffs and sheriff deputies.”

Hilbert said the lowest paid sheriff, who works in Nowata County, made $32,400 in 2023. That meant the county’s highest paid deputy could not make more than $32,399.

“You can imagine if you’re only able to pay $32,000 for a deputy, you’re going to have a hard time finding anybody,” Hilbert said.

House lawmakers Tuesday advanced the measure by an 89-6 vote.

Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, said he opposed the bill because he was concerned that lawmakers were setting required salaries for county officials.

“I just see it setting it up to where every time that something needs to be done, they’re coming back to the Legislature, and I think that should be more of a local issue,” he said.

West also said the funding would need to be recurring in future budget years, otherwise lawmakers are passing an unfunded salary mandate on to county taxpayers.

Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, co-author of the bill, said lawmakers want to boost pay in some of the lowest paying counties in the state, like Tillman, Cotton and Jefferson counties, and get deputies up to a livable wage.

He said Tillman County is 871 square miles, but only has two deputies to patrol it.

Caldwell said if legislators are requiring tasks that cost more than the tax revenue a county can produce, “we have a duty as a state to step in and help fund those (operations).”

He said lawmakers are responsible for ensuring that all constituents in the state have the same level of safety and protection whether they live in inner-city Tulsa “or the most rural, desolate place in northwest Oklahoma.”

The Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association did not return a message left seeking comment.

The Senate is expected to consider the budget measure later this week.

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