Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith, right, speaks to the Kosciusko County Council and Commissioners Tuesday about a Cost Of Living Adjustment for merit deputies. Shown clockwise, starting at right, are Smith, Councilman Dave Wolkins, Council President Tony Ciriello, Councilwoman Rachael Rhoades, Council Vice President Kathy Groninger, County Commissioner Cary Groninger, County Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell, Councilman Delynn Geiger, Councilman Joe Irwin, County Attorney Ed Ormsby and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Chris McKeand. Not present were Councilwoman Kimberly Cates and Commissioner Bob Conley. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Sheriff Jim Smith previously pitched a Cost Of Living Adjustment for merit deputies to the Kosciusko County Council and Commissioners at their past separate meetings, but Tuesday, July 21, he was able to present them with information at a combined meeting.

Smith said he and his office have been working on a COLA for close to two years now.

During the past presentations on the COLA, he had presented a study to the council and commissioners with one set of annual figures and study, but those were since updated and revised and that’s what was presented to the two boards Tuesday.

“Just a reminder to everyone, as we did this project and this study, we presented two options for the COLA, one of which would include just the future retirees of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office and then the second option would include them but also those that have already retired from the sheriff’s office,” Smith said. “But I want to make a note that it’s not just anybody. Twenty years of service … had to be checked. It’s a 3% max. In other words, if the cost of living only went up 2%, then that’s all the person would receive on that. And it was for a duration of 10 years from the time somebody began (earning) their pension.”

Smith said they felt like this was a conservative approach. “We were very mindful of the fact that we wanted to be conservative, but we also wanted to pay attention to what’s happening in the landscape of law enforcement and how competitive the market has become, and we can’t kid ourselves. We talk about these matters, that retirement is a factor that these officers are looking at,” he stated.

Warsaw Police Department has a COLA in their retirement, as well as the Indiana State Police, Indiana Department of Natural Resources and 25 other sheriff’s offices in the state. Smith said they have had officers come to the sheriff’s office, get trained and then leave to other departments that have COLAs. He thanked the Merit Board and councils of the past on being able to get the pension to where it’s at today.

“Because let’s be honest, if we weren’t as solvent as we are, 97% solvent, we wouldn’t be able to have these conversations,” Smith said.

Alan Alderfer, a local financial advisor who sits on the Merit Board, told the council and commissioners, “This is a project that we’ve been working on for two years. Thankfully, we have (OneAmerica Director and Consulting Actuary Benjamin Langhammer) that’s been helping us. This is something that is very dear to me because these officers put their life on the line every single day and we need to make sure that they are taken care of financially for the rest of their life.”

One of the pensions that someone started 20 years ago is worth half as much now as what it was when it was started, he said. “This is something that is very needed,” Alderfer said. When a potential deputy is interviewed for a position at the sheriff’s office, he said they do want to stay there their whole career, but when there’s competing offers from other police organizations — Alderfer said the sheriff’s office needs to get competitive.

“I think the numbers speak for themselves,” he stated. “We are one of the highest-funded pensions in the state of Indiana. That is partly because the county has funded it. They’ve funded it at the recommended levels, and then also I think we’ve been very prudent. We’ve had excellent committees that have done a very nice job of investing the money, so I’m very proud of what the Merit Board has done for this pension.”

Langhammer is the actuary consultant for 91 of the 92 county police retirement plans. “As the sheriff alluded to, a lot of these departments are fighting over the same group of people with state police, the local police departments, the other county police departments. There are a lot looking at what will make their county or plan more advantageous to retaining those officers and keeping them for a longer period of time,” Langhammer said.

“There are 25 counties that currently offer COLA, so that’s over a quarter of the counties that do offer a cost of living adjustment to their retirees. Most of those are at the 3% as shown in this study.”

He said a lifetime COLA is very expensive to put in, so “we tried to mitigate that in various ways with that 20-year service requirement, rewarding those longer tenture deputies with that COLA, and also limiting the number of increases to 10 years of increases.”

Langhammer said this isn’t something that is unique to Kosciusko County. “But this plan is better funded than most of the county police plans. The average county police plan probably sits around 80-85% funded, and this one currently sits at 97 before these plan changes. So it is at a good time to make these changes,” he stated.

KCSO Chief Deputy Chris McKeand looked at costs for training a new officer when an officer leaves. McKeand said they want to be able to get back to where they’re keeping officers to that “magic” 20-year point. “When I started, that was the goal. You competed to get into the sheriff’s department. The sheriff’s department was the destination, and once you got there, it was competitive what you were going to be allowed to train in, the specialties you were going to be involved in, and you excelled to be able to do those things,” he said.

“It was a very different market. Today, the market is different. The mentality is different. The marketplace for us to find employees is different to where … we’re out seeking the individuals to hire.” Once the sheriff’s office attracts an individual to hire, McKeand said they’ve got to keep them and keep them engaged so the sheriff’s department doesn’t lose the individuals they’ve invested many hours and funding in.

Training a new officer and sending them to the law enforcement academy — basically the first year an officer is with the department — is an estimated $59,000, McKeand said. “What we’re finding is, more often than not, once you get that person trained, you get them acclimated, there is a period of time for that officer to feel comfortable … once they hit that point, they start looking and they start looking at these other departments and if they have more attractive benefit packages, paid packages, all those things, they start looking for other employment,” he said. “We can only afford to lose so many of those individuals before it becomes detrimental to our department.”

Beyond that, the sheriff’s office has to have so many specialties in place to serve the county. Just to train a crash reconstructionist is $20,000, and then annual additional training is $3,000. Every time a new diver has to be trained for the dive team it’s $13,510. SWAT member training is roughly $13,470. Polygraph operator training is $32,000. K9 handler training is $23,000. Those are minimal costs.

Smith said, “Our deputies, even without all of those specialties, are being sought after by these other agencies. So you throw these credentials on top — a reconstructionist, a K9 handler, somebody with those expertise and skills – are even harder sought after because they have those.”

He said the COLA is just another way to entice officers to come, stay and make the KCSO the place where they retire from and not just be their training grounds. Smith reminded the council and commissioners his office is projected to save $415,000 on its food costs.

“Because we, at the sheriff’s office, were diligent. We’re not just in a position where  we’re just going to come ask, ask, ask. We know that this is an ask, that we’re asking for this retirement, for the COLA. But rather than just coming and asking for things, we’re trying to do everything we can on our end to save what we can. We got our hands dirty, we looked and did a deep dive on our food costs and seeing where we could save money. We took a leap of faith, switched companies and it proved to be very beneficial. We’re all going to benefit from that, what we’re able to do, just on that piece,” he explained.

On the upcoming 2026 budgets, he said they’re going to be able to save $388,000 based off last year’s figures. A portion of the joint meeting Tuesday included questions and comments from the council members and commissioners.

Councilman DeLynn Geiger asked if the COLA was a determining factor for officers to stay with the department.

Smith said yes, though some were more vocal about it than others.

Councilwoman Kathy Groninger asked what the average years of service was for the sheriff’s office. Langhammer said of the current 43 active participants, the average age is about 39 with almost nine years of service.

County Commissioner Cary Groninger asked how many positions were currently open at the sheriff’s office. Smith said none currently as they’re fully staffed.

There was discussion about the two different scenarios Smith had presented and the cost of those scenarios going forward, as well as potential other scenarios.

After the nearly 70-minute discussion, no motion was made and no votes were taken.