The new Draper police force could open the door to retirement for some older Salt Lake County sheriff's employees.
The Salt Lake County Council has asked for a summary of how much money could be saved if it allowed employees with 20 or more years of service to retire early and either replaced them with new deputies or eliminated their positions. The retirements may be needed because Draper, which had $1.7 million contract with the sheriff last year, decided to form its own police department earlier this year.
"If we have a situation, because of Draper, where we are going to have to lose some people, we should give some people a chance to retire," Councilman Randy Horiuchi said.
Whether the department would actually need to lose any of its employees is doubtful, Sheriff Aaron Kennard said. Instead, he had planned to use those deputies to cover other areas.
"What I had been hoping . . . is to absorb those deputies from Draper into the unincorporated county, to boost my patrols there," Kennard said. "Though I agree with the idea of having something in place to allow this (early retirement), I can absorb these deputies."
Approximately 30 employees served Draper, primarily as deputies although some served as record-keeping staff. Kennard said retaining those employees, despite the increased costs, could be shifted to other areas and would help him move closer to the number of per-capita patrol units most cities in the valley use.
"We save money by encouraging those more senior officers to retire," he said. "But please don't do that and then tell me those allocations are gone."
David Marshall, chief administrative officer for Mayor Nancy Workman, said the county has granted early retirement to sheriff's department employees in the past. However, that followed actions by the Utah Legislature that significantly reduced the sheriff's force.
"We can do this," Marshall said. "We've done it in the past."
To allow the early retirements specifically for the sheriff's office, the county would need a legal justification for the loss of employees, Deputy District Attorney Karl Hendrickson said.
"You would have to develop a formal basis," he said. "I don't know if there is one there, but you would need that to justify (the early retirements)."
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