TYLER, Texas — As part of the Smith County budget that was approved Tuesday, 10 detention officers will be added to jail staff.
Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said the new positions will help decrease overtime costs. He said the amount of money the sheriff's office is spending on overtime is basically the equivalent to paying the salaries of 10 new employees.
On Tuesday, the commissioners approved the budget and tax rate that will go into effect on Oct. 1. The increase in the number of jail detention officers is one of the significant parts of the fiscal year 2025 budget.
Smith believes the move will help retain the officers they already have by lessening the number of extra hours they're been asked to work.
"And (if) they cannot get their time off with their family and do things they need to do, they're not going to last," Smith said. "Even your best employees at some point are gonna just say, 'hey, time out. it's time for me to do something else. I've got to have a family life as well.' And they work holidays already. They work nights. They work weekends when a lot of us are off. So they give it up a lot to start with."
The sheriff's office said it's also turning to recent high school graduates to fill some of those positions at the jail. Thanks to a technical training program with Tyler ISD, potential hires can be ready to take their test and start training soon after getting their diploma.