By JAMES MERRIWEATHER
The News Journal 12/03/2004
Better pay than what's been proposed so far and retirement after 25 years of service instead of 30 are needed to hire and keep security personnel in the state's prisons, the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware said Thursday.
"You need a good starting wage to pull people in and movement through the pay scale and decent retirement to keep them," said David Knight, the association's executive vice president.
"The state has said these things are optional points, but we think they're just some of the basics needed to hire and retain officers."
The union's statement came in response to recent state assessments of what needs to be done to hire and keep corrections officers on the job.
Last September, a task force appointed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner included the 25-year retirement proposal among a raft of recommendations to improve pay and benefits for prison employees.
On Nov. 16, a three-official study group convened by the legislative Joint Finance Committee and headed by state Budget Director Jennifer "JJ" Davis embraced task force recommendations, but set no timetable for their implementation.
Union officials were upset that Davis' group passed along the retirement proposal and others favored by the union - without endorsement - for "further consideration" by legislators and administration officials.
In a written, point-by-point response to Davis' report, Knight said some of the task force recommendations that were merely passed along "are some of the most important issues that affect hiring and retention."
"We just want them to know that these things need to be done," Knight said. "We realize that they may not be done immediately."
The study group embraced new spending of $3.7 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, which Davis said would bring increases for correctional officers to 24 percent over the last two years.
About $2.6 million of that would come in a 5 percent pay raise effective Jan. 1 under the state's selective market review strategy, which allows for out-of-turn pay raises to help stem chronic employee shortages in critical areas.
No updated figure was readily available Thursday, but, as of Nov. 10, some 301 of 1,830 correctional officer slots were vacant, including 43 reserved for officers on active military duty. The union contends that short staffing is a major safety shortcoming.
Knight said Davis' group was directed by the Joint Finance Committee to "phase in implementation" of the 2003 task force recommendations. But Sen. Nancy Cook, D-Kenton, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, said the study group's report was in keeping with her expectations.
"They don't have the authority to implement recommendations because of the need for appropriations for additional funding," Cook said. "Obviously, they don't have a mechanism for that."
In addition to the 5 percent increase, a second $600 hazardous duty pay increase in two years - worth $1.1 million a year - has been endorsed by Minner. Both items will be reflected in the governor's proposed spending plan for fiscal 2006, which comes due late next month.
Knight noted that all state employees could be brought under a 25-years-and-out retirement plan for $10 million a year. Another favored provision - carrying a price tag of $3.5 million - would be a pay scale allowing officers to climb rungs on the state's merit pay system. That would encourage officers to stay, he said.
Knight said the state also needs to move recruits up a pay rank after a training and a probationary period.
Contact James Merriweather at 678-4273 or jmerriweather@delawareonline.com.
