Improving the

efficiency of
public safety
services
September 2018

An assessment of the Marion

County Sheriff’s Office

December, 2018
Project Purpose and Scope (report pg. 2)
An examination of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office operations – to evaluate proficiency of execution of
statutory and other responsibilities, with particular focus on arrestee services. As a result, KPMG have provided a
joint comprehensive roadmap for MCSO that all stakeholders have reviewed, validated and agreed to move
forward with.
1. Evaluate arrestee service functions, including Requested
transportation, identification services, and security services level of depth:
provided while arrestees receive medical treatment. High
• Transportation
• Identification Services
• Security Services for arrestees while receiving medical treatment

Requested
2. Conduct a financial analysis of the MCSO. level of depth:
Moderate
• Sufficiency of funding for statutory and sustained operations
• Budget funding for post-deconsolidation in 2008
• Operational Models for staffing, overtime, and vehicle fleet

Requested
3. Conduct an evaluation of the City-County and MCSO
level of depth:
vehicle fleet.
Low
• Inventory of current fleet
• Analysis of current condition
• Guidelines used for take-home vehicles
2
Methodology (report pg. 3-4)
KPMG focused this assessment on creating actionable insights related to the MCSO Steering Committee’s key
questions for success. KPMG conducted independent analysis of raw data received from the City-County, from
MCSO, and from publicly available sources of information. This analysis focused on identifying trends,
correlations and root causes of changes in demand, staffing levels, overtime, and expenditures across MCSO.

KPMG relied on a robust sampling of qualitative and quantitative research to conduct this assessment, including:

Benchmarking Financial
analysis of National Analysis
Peer Agencies

Data and Operational

Analytics Observations and
Interviews

3
Summary Findings (report pg. 101-111)
1. Increasing demand: Between 2015 and 2017, arrests grew by 7 percent, jail bookings grew by 11 percent, and the
MCSO average daily jail population grew from 86 percent of MCSO’s daily jail capacity to 101 percent of jail
capacity.

2. Flat inflation-adjusted budgets: In inflation-adjusted dollars, the adopted budget declined 2 percent in 2017
compared to its 2005 level. The revised budget grew by 1.2% from 2015 to 2017 in inflation-adjusted terms.

3. Declining staffing: Staffing across MCSO fell by 7 percent from 2015–2017. MCSO’s total employee attrition rate
increased during this period from 21 percent in 2015 to 24 percent in 2017.

4. Rising overtime: MCSO’s overtime more than doubled between 2015 and 2017, increasing 128 percent from $2.1
million in 2015 to $4.8 million in 2017.

5. Salaries below market average: Pay scales are not in line with market averages. MCSO staff take home between
3 to 22 percent less than their peers at nearby agencies.

6. Burnout and retention challenges: MCSO’s attrition rate increased from 21 percent in 2015 to 24 percent in
2017. MCSO’s attrition-related costs ranged from approximately $1.1 to $1.4 million per year from 2015 to
2017.
7. Buy and hold fleet strategy: Across 2015 to 2017, MCSO’s fleet has cost $2.17 million to maintain (excludes
fuel costs).

4
Finding 1: Increasing demand (report pg. 21)
• MCSO’s jail population has grown in recent years: MCSO’s jails typically average 97 percent of capacity or above, up from 86
percent in 2015.
• The numbers of arrests increased by 7%, number of transports increased by 9%, and jail bookings increased by 11% in the
county.
• A new state law -- House Enrolled Act 1006 – also increases the MCSO jail population by requiring individuals convicted of
low-level felonies to serve their sentences in county jails or community corrections programs.

5
Finding 2: Flat inflation-adjusted budgets (report pg. 21)
• In nominal terms, MCSO expenditures grew 4 percent from 2015 to 2017.
• When inflation is adjusted out of the nominal increases, MCSO expenditures grew by 0.6 percent in real (inflation-adjusted)
terms during this period.
• The revised budget, which includes additional appropriations later in the budget cycle, grew by 1.2% from 2015 to 2017 in
inflation-adjusted terms*.

MCSO adopted budget, actual expenditures, and additional appropriations,

2005 – 2017
$130,000,000
$120,000,000
$110,000,000
Funding

$100,000,000
$90,000,000
$80,000,000
$70,000,000
$60,000,000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year

Actual expenditures
Additional appropriation
Adopted budget
Inflation-adjusted adopted budget (2005 dollars)

*Inflation calculations are drawn from StatsIndiana, the statistical data utility for the state housed at Indiana University. StatsIndiana’s inflation tool utilizes data 6
from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers.
Finding 3: Declining staffing (report pg. 26-27)
• MCSO staffing strength fell from 966 personnel in 2015 to 897 in 2017, a reduction of approximately 7 percent.
• From 2017 to 2018, MCSO staffing shrunk by an additional 50 employees, or 6 percent.
• The Jail Division accounts for approximately 50 percent of MCSO staffing.

7
Finding 4: Rising overtime (report pg. 30)
• Overtime usage between 2015 and 2017 increased by 128 percent or more than $2 million.
• As of 2017, MCSO’s overtime expenditures totaled nearly $5 million per year.
• This increase in overtime occurred during a period in which MCSO’s total staffing fell by approximately 5 percent.
Meanwhile, demand rose across most divisions.

8
Finding 5: Salaries below the market average (report pg. 39-44)
• The MCSO starting salary for deputy and detention deputy positions lags behind the
starting salary average across the peer group agencies.
Position MCSO starting salary Peer agency average: Variance
Starting salary
Sheriff’s Deputy $35,123 $46,437 -32%
Detention Deputy $32,000 $35,640 -11%

• For five assessed positions, the mean salary paid by Marion County was below the
peer agency average (defined as the average of the mean salaries of the full
comparison cohort).

Position MCSO average: Take-home Peer agency average: Variance

pay Take-home pay
Sheriff’s Deputy $50,631 $52,913 -5%
Detention $39,449 $40,738
Deputy -3%
Sergeant $50,631 $61,956 -22%
Court Security $33,742 $37,380 -11%
911 Dispatcher $36,929 $43,105 -17%

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Finding 6: Burnout and retention challenges (report pg. 33)
• MCSO’s attrition rate increased from 21 percent in 2015 to 24 percent in 2017. This level of attrition is at the high end of
annual attrition rates within the national correction industry.
• In recent years, the attrition rate for detention deputies has hovered at approximately 43-44 percent.
• As overtime levels have increased office-wide, a minority of MCSO staff has taken on a disproportionate share of overtime
hours.
• MCSO’s attrition-related costs ranged from approximately $1.1 to $1.4 million per year from 2015 to 2017.
• MCSO deputies on average stay with the department for 7.3 years while detention deputies stay for 1.3 years. Over a 5 year
period, MCSO spends approximately $9,600 on recruiting, training, and equipment costs to keep a deputy position staffed
and approximately $30,100 on these costs for a detention deputy position.

Total annual overtime hours by deputy, 2015 Total annual overtime hours by deputy, 2017
2000 2000
1800 1800
1600 1600
1400 1400
1200 1200
1000 1000
800 800
600 600
400 400
200 200
0 0
1 101 201 301 401 501 601 701 1 101 201 301 401 501 601 701

“Understanding perceptions of turnover in corrections,” Minor, Kevin et. al.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.505.1842&rep=rep1&type=pdf 10
Finding 7: Buy and hold fleet strategy (report pg. 101-104)
• The MCSO fleet comprises 351 vehicles with a total mileage, of all units, greater than 33 million miles.
• 156 of the total 356 units have greater than 100,000 miles. Based off of Indianapolis Fleet Manual subsection 6.1, 47
percent of the fleet has reached or exceeded its useful life.
• Based on the cost-to-repair units by model year, older vehicles are costing more to maintain than new units and therefore
MCSO is paying a relatively higher cost per unit across a larger number of units to maintain its fleet.
• Between 2015 to 2017 MCSO’s fleet has cost $2.17 million to maintain (excludes fuel costs). The vehicles within the red
square, vehicle years 2008 to 2011, have accounted for $1.38 million of the total costs.

Repair costs and population density by year

$8,000 Largest cost per 80

$7,000
unit and largest 70
number of units
$6,000 60

Population Density
Repair Costs

$5,000 50

$4,000 40

$3,000 30

$2,000 20

$1,000 10

$- 0

Year

# of Units Avg. Cost per unit

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Summary Recommendations (report pg. 6-7)
1. Expand data collection practices to allow for complete tracking of staff supply and demand
• Impact: Expanded data collection will enable the development of optimized schedules that match staffing supply and shift patterns
to most efficiently meet projected demand

2. Implement demand-based scheduling

• Impact: An estimated 10% reduction in resource supply hours while maintaining service levels. MCSO will likely need to hire given
increased demand; however, reducing the number of resource hours needed by 10% would yield approximately $3 million per year
in cost avoidance through reduced salary expenditures.

3. Adopt policies to govern and optimize MCSO’s use of overtime

• Impact: Efficient use of overtime to manage spikes in demand, allowing for a targeted 10% reduction in overtime expenditures.
Such a reduction would yield $480,000 in cost reductions per year.

4. Implement optimized systems to guide Prioritization, Tasking and Coordination, and Routing
• Impact: Potential cost avoidance of $320,000 per year.

5. Transition to risk-based model for monitoring the City-County’s SOVO population

• Impact: Potential cost reductions of $510,000–$650,000 per year
6. Implement practices to allow for demand management within Arrestee Transportation Section
• Impact: Potential cost avoidance of $300,000 per year

7. Bring MCSO pay in line with market average and redesign pay & promotion pathways to incentivize performance and retention
• Impact: Increased morale, retention, and employee performance. Reductions in attrition-related training costs of $350,000–
$700,000 per year can defray the cost of pay raises. Improved recruiting and retention of detention deputies will also be necessary
to achieve the potential $2 million in cost reductions associated with recommendation 9 below.

8. Implement planned force mix changes to allow for a detention deputy-based staffing model for the Jail Division
• Impact: Potential cost reductions of approximately $2 million per year

9. Broaden use of demand management alternatives to better manage the size and composition of the inmate populations using
(cross-agency diversion strategies)
• Impact: Potential cost avoidance of $3.5 million–$13.8 million per year; the level of savings depends on strategies implemented.
10. Institute a robust metrics program that tracks OPEX costs by vehicle and investigate implementing an optimal replacement cycle
• Impact:. Actively monitoring repair costs will assist in highlighting the optimal point on the repair curve for vehicle disposition in
order to maximize residual value. In addition, an optimal replacement cycle should facilitate a reduction in maintenance costs 12
Path Forward (report pg. 6-7)

01 02 03 04
Address staffing Implement process Develop analytical & Improve budget
factors: changes: management tools: position:

• Internal and • Demand based • Risk based • Budget

market pay parity scheduling prioritization forecasting
• Recruitment and • Arrestee • Tasking and • Investment need
retention transportation coordination
and booking • Revenue
• Force mix • Routing opportunities
process
• Data tracking

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