The Citrus County Sheriff's Office needs increase deputy pay to stay competitive.

Hernando pays 43k starting for new deputies. Marion upped their beginning wage for new hires to 42k. Sumter is identical to Citrus but they work an 84 work week, raised their milage rate to coincide with new a population boom and are discussing raising their deputy pay.

Citrus was offering a small one time 2k new hire bonus but still pays $16 an hour to new hires in FTO and $18.30 after. The only bordering county Citrus out pays is Levy but they're stuck way behind the times and are alligned to compete with Dixie and Gilchrist.

When will CCSO begin to pay a living wage and compete with surrounding agencies? Alot of recruits already avoid Citrus because of their over the top PAT course but what deputy can survive on $16-18 dollars an hour?