Honorable Garnet Coleman, Chair, House Committee on County Affairs
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1490 by Naishtat (Relating to the accumulation and payment of sick leave for employees in certain sheriff's departments.), As Introduced
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend Subchapter B, Chapter 158 of the Local Government Code to stipulate that in a county that has adopted Chapter 158 and to which Subchapter B applies, an employee of the sheriff's office in classified service may accumulate sick leave without limit and if the employee leaves the classified service for any reason would be entitled to a lump sum payment of the employee's salary for accumulated sick leave up to 720 hours.
Local Government Impact
Subchapter B applies to a county with a population of 190,000 or more.
The negative fiscal impact would vary by county and is anticipated to be significant.
Harris County reported their costs in this analysis have been updated to current levels and is based on the total number of qualifying Sheriff’s Office employees currently employed (3,955) and the overall rate of separation for Harris County employees as a whole (9 percent annually). On average, qualifying sheriff’s employees currently have 23 days of accumulated sick leave that would be paid; however, the bill would increase the maximum hours of compensated sick leave by 50 percent which could result in the average number of paid sick leave days at termination could be as many as 28 to 30. The average daily cost of salaries alone for sheriff’s employees is $237. The county could incur estimated costs of $1.94 million in fiscal year 2012 to pay qualifying employees if they leave at the normal rate with current sick leave accumulations. The amounts for subsequent fiscal years would increase to an estimated $2.9 million for a higher accumulation rate and an increase in the separation percentage.
Dallas County reported the bill would result in estimated costs of $4.5 million each fiscal year above the costs currently incurred for paying for unused sick leave under existing policies. The provisions of the bill will drastically increase the cost to the county for sick leave payout to Sheriff's Office employees. Currently, under County Policy, an employee would have to work for the county for at least five years before receiving any payout of sick leave upon separation of employment. Because there is a large turnover rate among the majority of Sheriff's Office employees, the bill would greatly impact the cost of operations. Assuming that a Detention Service Officer stays with the county for three years without taking any sick leave, upon separation, the county would pay $4,487. Multiply that by the over two thousand employees in the Sheriff's Office and it begins to become costly to the county. (This projection does not include long-time employees making more than the entry level salary.)