KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Deputies and corrections officers need better pay -- immediately -- but the two men running for Knox County sheriff aren't ready to endorse a tax increase to raise the money.
"I think we have to look for other ways to ensure we find that money," Sheriff Tom Spangler told WBIR this week in a taping of the weekly public affairs program "Inside Tennessee".
Jimmy "J.J." Jones, former sheriff, said the timing is poor with inflation so high.
"The tax increase it would take would be astronomical to bring pay raises up," he said.
Spangler is seeking his second, four-year term in office. Jones was sheriff from 2007 until 2018. The office is term-limited, although a former officeholder can seek it again after lying out for a term.
The sheriff's face is among the most closely watched this spring.
Both men are Republicans. The winner of the May 3 primary will essentially secure the job because no Democrat is on the ballot for the August county general election.
Spangler and Jones also talked with WBIR among other things about chronic turnover in the department ranks and the loss of hundreds of personnel in recent years, and they addressed a federal investigation involving the former Knox County Sheriff's Office narcotics chief.
The program airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on WBIR.
