MILTON — The Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office deputies will get their pay increases.
The sheriff’s office on Thursday learned it would receive additional funds by Aug. 1, before the planned budget increase for fiscal year 2018.
County Commissioners unanimously moved to allocate up to $290,000 to the sheriff’s office, which returned $480,000 in unspent funds from the fiscal 2017 budget back to the county.
The sheriff's office annually budgets the entire amount the board allocates to the department. However, through cost-cutting measures used during the year, the department returns funds to the county, according to Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Rich Aloy.
Where will that money go? Well, Sheriff Bob Johnson has addressed commissioners on the need for deputy pay increases.
Commissioners approved allocating $1.6 million of the fiscal year 2018 budget for the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office, as discussed during Monday’s meeting.
The fiscal year 2017 budget includes $480,000 the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office returned to the county, but the county has not allocated that money yet, according to Commission Chairman Rob Williamson.
He suggested the county return a portion of it to the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office.
“We could have those (deputy pay) increases take place on Aug. 1,” Williamson said. “It’s sooner than that fiscal year and it does not impact the budget because it’s money that we did not have budgeted for to start with.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Sheriff's Office gains extra funding