The Starr County sheriff says he's cutting down employee turnover.

Starr County Sheriff Rene Fuentes says that's been a challenge for him for years. He says his deputies and jailers were leaving to other jobs with higher paychecks.

"Especially my detention officers...their pay was very low to begin with," Fuentes said.

But a brand-new grant from the state aims to help close that gap. It's called the Rural Sheriff's Office Grant built for counties like Starr County with populations of less than 300,000 people; Starr County has a population that is just over 65,000.

"We had a problem with keeping our detention officers, but now they're staying," Fuentes said.

Sheriff Fuentes says his office received $500,000 for this fiscal year. That allowed the sheriff's office to give deputies and jailers raises of just over $7,000.

"The deputies, it went up to $45,000 and then all of the rest went to detention officers," Fuentes said. "I have about 53 detention officers, so most of the money went there."

His deputies and jailers started getting their raises this summer. In order to keep up with the pay boost, the sheriff's office will need to apply for the state grant every year, which Fuentes said he will be doing.