Guilford County sheriff’s office exceeds overtime budget by $3.9 million

The Guilford County Sheriff's Office went $3.9 million over its overtime budget, a shortfall Sheriff Danny Rogers tied to vacant deputy positions. That spending gap turned staffing holes into a taxpayer problem, because the same work still had to be covered in the jail, on patrol and across other sheriff's office duties in Guilford County.

Rogers said the overtime increase came as crime fell 35%, a point that frames the overrun as a public safety cost attached to a lower-crime environment. WFMY News 2 also described the sheriff’s office as dealing with a budget deficit and said Rogers spoke out about the spending spike, signaling that the overtime problem had become part of the office’s public budget defense.

For Guilford County commissioners, the overrun lands in the middle of the county’s fiscal year 2024-2025 budget, which runs from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The Board of County Commissioners adopted that budget ordinance on June 20, 2024. County budget documents say the Performance Report is used to flag spending patterns that require “additional observation or action,” which is the kind of language likely to draw attention when one department runs millions over in labor costs.

The practical choices are straightforward, even if none is easy: commissioners can absorb the cost, move money from other county services, or push harder on the sheriff’s staffing plan. A large overtime overrun can also point to a deeper problem that looks cheaper on paper than it is in practice. Leaving deputy posts vacant can reduce salary costs in the short term, but the savings can disappear when the remaining staff work extra hours, adding fatigue, turnover pressure and coverage risk.

This is not the first time deputy pay and staffing have landed on the county agenda. Rhino Times reported on July 16, 2024 that Guilford County commissioners were finally ready to address sheriff’s deputy pay, and WFMY previously reported that Rogers announced a pay increase for part-time detention and deputy sheriffs. Earlier, a Fox 8 post dated Dec. 20, 2018 said Rogers had laid off more than a dozen employees and 47 jobs remained vacant, underscoring that staffing strain in the sheriff’s office has stretched across multiple budget cycles.

For residents in Greensboro, High Point, Jamestown and Gibsonville, the overrun matters because it can affect how much the county spends on core law enforcement and how much room remains for other priorities. If vacancies keep driving overtime, Guilford County may have to refill posts faster, rethink pay, or make cuts elsewhere to keep the sheriff’s office from repeating the same cycle.