County sheriff wants boost to overtime. Extra duty pay could reach $130-$163 per hour

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s request to hike overtime extra duty pay rates charged for services at events countywide that require the use of deputies and other personnel.

The sheriff, who is running for California governor in 2026, is seeking to implement a revised overtime pay schedule that would allow increases to be phased in over the next three fiscal years. The last time the extra duty pay formulas were changed occurred in fiscal year 2022-23.

The changes reflect the costs borne by the sheriff’s department when deputies, investigators, crime scene technicians — even helicopter mechanics — perform work outside of their normal schedules, such as for parades, fairs, festivals and other “special events,” officials said.

The new rates would apply to school districts, courts and the cities that contract for law enforcement services.

The cost for a patrol deputy who works extra hours outside of his or her customary assignments is $101.68 per hour currently. Under the revised OT pay schedule, the rate would jump to $118.08 as of May 1. The rate would then be increased gradually until peaking at $130.19 per hour by February 2027, according to documents posted to the board’s policy agenda for Tuesday.

The charge for a sheriff’s corporal would go from $108.27 currently to $125.73 per hour on May 1, then rise to $138.62 by February 2027.

A sergeant’s rate would hold at $137.12 from May 2025 to February 2027. A lieutenant’s extra duty pay would go from $112.27 now to $163.61 on May 1. However, for the next three fiscal years, the rate would remain unchanged at that level, according to agency documents.

Just over 150 positions — sworn and non-sworn — were listed in the revised schedule. Increases were sought for most, but not all, titles and classifications over the next three fiscal years.

The aggregate estimated cost of the increases was estimated at $933,869, none of which would require General Fund appropriations.