PIKE COUNTY, Mo. — The following report was provided by Pike County Sheriff Stephen Korte on Monday, December 5:
The Pike County Jail is possibly suspending operations. All detainees would more than likely be moved to the Audrain County Jail in Mexico Mo. as early as this week. Audrain is the closest jail able to house our average number of inmates, 40 per day. At this time, I can not predict how long this will be for. For the families and friends of detainees, Audrain County uses the same vender for phones, email and commissary as Pike County
Due to the inability to recruit and retain staff, we can no longer safely continue to operate. This problem is not unique to the Jail as most employers in our area are struggling to find and retain staff. Most notably and comparable would be the prison who is also short staffed even though they have a much higher starting level of compensation. I am aware of other counties in Missouri who are finding themselves in the same position.
We previously closed temporarily in December of 2020 during the height of COVID. At that time the number of jail staff I was budgeted for was cut from 12 to 10 to increase wages from $11.50 to $13.50 an hour. Later that year a Deputy position was cut to raise that starting pay from $15.50 to $17.50 an hour. In July of this year I was allowed to raise the starting pay in the jail to $14.00 an hour.
For the past 2 years the maximum number of full-time staff for the entire Sheriff’s Office was capped at 23. We currently have only 16 full time employees. All Deputy positions are filled and there is 1 Deputy holding and working a Jailer position. For the last several months the jail has been averaging over 200 hours of overtime a month due to being short staffed. With 2 staff leaving for new jobs, on December 1st it became necessary to pull 2 full time Deputies from patrol to maintain 2 persons on duty in the jail. Reserve Deputies are also filling in at the jail.
The current half cent sales tax is the primary funding source for the Sheriff’s Office. Over the last decade, and drastically since COVID, the amount of internet sales versus in-person sales has greatly increased. Because Pike County does not receive sales tax from internet sales the current sales tax has not kept up with the rate of inflation or increases of minimum wage.
During my 14 years of being your Sheriff we have seen the following increases. Health insurance by 143% with employees now contributing the equivalent of $0.50 an hour. The cost of our other insurances has increased by 92%. Minimum wage has increased by 70%. And, in the last 18 months our cost for food has doubled.
Having to use another counties jail will not save us any money, but we can no longer safely both operate our own facility and provide low enforcement response with what we have been able to budget. Your County officials have and will continue to work towards the goal of providing the most, best public safety possible.
I also want to publicly thank our staff for their dedication to our county. Their willingness to serve, fuels my dedication. All but 3 of the current staff have been here over a year and a half. In particular I want to recognize the Chief Deputy, and Louisiana High school graduate, David Carroll on his 30-year anniversary at the Sheriff’s Office this month. I wish I had more than words to recognize all of the staff for their sacrifices and desire to serve.