FY 2026 budget asks for $3.4 million more than last year
Worcester County’s top cop is telling elected officials at budget time that he needs to increase starting deputy pay so his office can stay regionally competitive with hiring.
“Our current salary does not expose our office to the best-qualified candidates,” Sheriff Matt Crisafulli told the Worcester County Commissioners at Tuesday’s departmental budget hearing. “When an agency has the ability to have a selection process that is highly competitive, due to a high volume of applicants, the best will rise to the top.”
According to Crisafulli, results of a recently conducted salary study among mid-Atlantic police agencies showed that the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office “ranked near the bottom” for rookies, 15-year pay, and maximum pay. Those hiring competitors, he said, are “all buying from the same applicant pool.”
Starting deputy salaries should be competitive enough to retain current staff and attract qualified applicants – but not so low that he’d have to come back too quickly for another future fiscal year request, he said.
Crisafulli, who was elected in 2018, added that the cost to hire new deputy sheriffs will increase “tremendously” if the issue isn’t addressed during this fiscal year, and doing so likely would decrease staff turnover.
“Every day when my men and women pin the badge on their uniform, they carry an unimaginable weight, not because they have to – it’s because they were called to,” Crisafulli told the commissioners.
“Bravery is not a hashtag, and sacrifice is not a trend. Our men and women do this, not for the applause, but because that’s who they are. They love our community and I thank God that we still have men and women that want to be in this noble profession,” he added.