Letter to Editor: Supervisors priorities skewed

It’s a clear political attack for the board of supervisors (Peter Rios and David Snider) to say the sheriff’s budget is not balanced, when they sign a contract with the unions after my budget is fixed and then don’t provide me with the $547,100 they agreed to

Where does that money come from when we are budgeted for gas for our vehicles at $1.78 per gallon, yet the price of fuel has doubled? In past years, the unpredictable rise in fuel costs were covered, but now the supervisors want to take full political advantage in this election year. Instead of funding the increased fuel charges like they have in past budget years to ensure our deputies continue to respond to emergencies and detention officers transport prisoners, their high-paid county manager ($179,000 salary) says “pay for it out of your budget.

They want me to leave critical deputy and detention officer positions unfilled, which compromises our public safety.

The county also changed budget procedures this year for all departments, where budget costs and funding was transferred for employee related expenses (ERE’s) such as FICA, retirement contributions, over time and workers compensation. The estimates by the supervisors and their staff were significantly off and millions in funding were shorted to the sheriff’s office. The county later agreed to pay for some shortages in retirement contributions, employee related expenses and over $850,000 for workers compensation.

The county signed a legal contract (two sheriffs prior to me) with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (ICE) for nearly 500 beds in our jail and they have yet to hire the 51 additional detention officers that are required by this contract. The sheriff’s office is still required to staff our jail according to the specifications of this contract, as well as transport detainees to medical appointments and court hearings.