📰 Twice the Workforce, Half the Pay: Why are Lenoir County Deputies Shortchanged and KPD officers a Overchanged ???
- Quarla Blackwell
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Men lie, women lie... BUT...The Numbers Don’t Lie !!!!!
When you look at the budgets side‑by‑side, the imbalance jumps off the page:
Agency | FY2025–26 Budget | Workforce Size | Avg. Salary | Coverage Area |
Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office | ~$12.8M | ~128 deputies + detention staff | ~$38,490 | Entire county (480 sq. miles), detention center, courts |
Kinston Police Department | ~$10M | ~62–77 sworn officers | ~$55,473 | City of Kinston (~21,000 residents) |
Double the Workers, Little More Money
The Sheriff’s Office employs nearly twice the staff of Kinston PD, yet its budget is only ~28% larger. That means deputies and detention officers are paid significantly less — averaging $15K less per year than their city counterparts.
This isn’t just a quirk of accounting. It’s a structural imbalance baked into how county budgets are written:
Sheriff’s Office funds are spread thin across patrol, detention, courtroom security, and civil process.
City police budgets concentrate on salaries and patrol, allowing them to pay more per officer.
Why It’s Unfair
Equal risk, unequal pay: Deputies patrol rural areas, run the jail, and secure the courts — yet earn less than city officers who cover a smaller jurisdiction.
Retention crisis: Lower pay makes it harder for the Sheriff’s Office to recruit and keep qualified deputies. Many leave for better‑paying city jobs.
Taxpayer burden: County residents fund both agencies, but the Sheriff’s Office budget prioritizes volume of staff over pay quality, while the city prioritizes competitive salaries over headcount.
The Bigger Picture
Across North Carolina, Sheriff’s Offices often command larger budgets than city police because they run detention centers. But in Lenoir County, that extra money doesn’t translate into fair pay. Instead, deputies are stretched thin, covering more responsibilities with less compensation.
Meanwhile, Kinston PD officers earn more, but the department is smaller and struggles to cover a city with one of the highest per‑capita crime rates in the region.
The Call for Reform
If fairness means equal pay for equal risk, then Lenoir County is failing its deputies. Taxpayers should demand:
Salary parity between Sheriff’s deputies and city police.
Transparent budgeting that shows where detention costs are eating into law enforcement pay.
Investment in prevention, not just incarceration.
Closing
The Sheriff’s Office runs the jail, secures the courts, and patrols the county — yet deputies earn far less than city police. That’s not just unfair; it’s unsustainable. Until budgets prioritize people over beds, Lenoir County will keep losing deputies to better‑paying jobs, and residents will keep paying the price in weaker public safety.
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