Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart is slated to get 14 new crime fighters in 2007: eight motorcycle deputies, four patrol deputies and two detectives.
That’s great, Bart said, except he has been beating the drum for crime prevention officers since they were all cut from the county budget in 2004.
“We have seen the results of that: a degradation in the police work we do,” Bart said. “We wanted to have those people back.
“I wish that they would help us find a way to get crime prevention officers back on the street.”
Crime prevention officers are not part of the proposed 2007 budget the County Council is voting on today.
More than $200 million in general fund spending is proposed, drawing mostly on property and sales taxes to pay for police, parks and county operations.
At least 71 percent of the general fund goes to cops and courts.
The overall proposed budget is about $700 million, 18 percent higher than in 2006. The budget includes all county services and construction of roads and parks. County Executive Aaron Reardon proposed the budget Sept. 29.
The general fund budget is 7.5 percent more than Reardon proposed for 2006 but only 1 percent more than what the council finally adopted.
The council is considering spending $900,000 in reserve money for programs and new hires, which it believes can be done without violating a policy that requires an 11 percent reserve.
Reardon said Friday that he opposes dipping into the county’s reserves and planned to negotiate with council members to rewrite the budget over the weekend.
By his math, the council’s proposed spending leaves the county with less than an 11 percent reserve.
“I can’t support a budget that engages in deficit spending,” Reardon said.
Reardon has the authority to veto council ordinances, and the five-member council can override a veto with four votes. The council is controlled by a three-Democrat majority.
Today, the County Council proposes to tack on:
* $1.1 million for four motorcycle deputies, four patrol deputies and two detectives.
* $282,000 in road tax money shifted to the sheriff’s office.
* A $275,000 boost to military veterans’ services.
* $162,000 for two more county animal control officers.
* $269,730 to fully fund the chemical dependence program at the jail.
* A proposal to reopen the Indian Ridge correctional facility in 2008.
* $82,570 to keep an infraction manager another year to help shepherd traffic ticket cases through the court system.
* $83,000 to hire a code writer for the County Council.
* A requirement for a work plan before hiring Reardon’s proposed inclusion manager, who is intended to coordinate jobs for minorities.
Each year, Bart said, he “screams” for dozens of new deputies and support staff, and he asked to hire 75 more people in 2007.
Rehiring crime prevention officers is his No. 1 priority, he said.
“On the road, they make contact with the crime victims and the people who aren’t victims yet,” he said. The officers are not fully commissioned sheriff’s deputies. Instead, they focus on setting up block watches and teaching people how to protect themselves and their property from possible crimes, he said.
Reardon didn’t propose hiring crime prevention officers. He did propose hiring four motorcycle officers to deal with speeders on county roads and in school zones. The tickets they write pay up to 90 percent of their salaries, Bart said.
The County Council last week said it wants to double the number to eight motorcycle officers, plus add four patrol deputies and two detectives.
Bart’s budget was already set to grow 8 percent in 2007 before the County Council signaled its plans to add $1.1 million more.
Hiring more motorcycle officers is a “no-brainer,” County Councilman Dave Gossett said.
“They pay for themselves and handle one of the biggest complaints we get, which is traffic violations like speeders and people not stopping at stop signs,” said Gossett, chairman of the council’s Law and Justice Committee.
Hiring two detectives will help with a backlog of burglaries and other property crimes, Bart said. And the four deputies will be distributed to patrol where they are needed most.
Bart said he planned to lobby the councilmen to change some of the motorcycle patrol positions to crime prevention officers.
“They’re an invaluable part of this office,” Bart said.
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