Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart vows to lay off 13 deputies in January, the latest volley in an internal battle over the county’s 2005 budget.
County Executive Aaron Reardon will unveil next year’s spending plan Sept. 30, his first budget since taking office earlier this year. Reardon, who has warned of employee layoffs in light of a potential $13.4 million budget shortfall, is expected to present a budget based on a major restructuring of county government.
Reardon’s budget, however, doesn’t include any deputy layoffs.
But Reardon’s latest draft of a budget for the sheriff’s office drew a harsh reply from Bart.
In a memo sent last week to the county executive, Bart said he was “angry and appalled” because his requested budget would be “gutted” by more than $985,000 in cuts. Those reductions did not include the proposed cut of five support staffers in the 2005 budget.
In the memo, Bart told Reardon he would be forced to lay off 13 deputies “if you refuse to make my budget whole for 2005.”
Susan Neely, Reardon’s executive director on law and justice issues, questioned the accuracy of Bart’s accounting on the size of the cuts. The reductions in his requested budget are approximately $765,000, or about 2 percent.
And Reardon has specifically asked for a budget that does not include cuts in the deputies’ ranks, she said. Instead, that’s something Bart is pushing.
“He’s overreacting,” Neely said. “This is a question of management skills. A good manager would not have to cut 13 commissioned officers in order to absorb a 2 percent cut.”
Bart’s protests about his department’s funding have become an almost predictable element of the annual budget process.
Bart, however, said the changes to his budget are significant.
“We’re at the point where we think absorbing these cuts is going to adversely affect the safety of the citizens of this county,” he said.
The budget bickering comes as the county faces a gloomy financial future. The county’s five-year financial forecast predicts a budget deficit of almost $40 million in 2009 if steps aren’t taken to rein in spending.
“We’re looking at a budget with no tax increase,” Neely said. “It’s clear that county departments will need to live within our means. And that’s going to entail cuts for just about everybody.
“Executive Reardon has made public safety a priority,” she added. “I think when his recommended budget is unveiled, people will see that.”
An executive-proposed draft budget for the sheriff’s office sets aside $38.2 million in general fund dollars for the department. Combined with grants and other revenues, the sheriff’s department has a proposed budget of $41.9 million for 2005. In the 2004 spending plan, the sheriff’s office had a budget of $40.4 million.
Overall, roughly 70 percent of the county’s general fund – the pot of money that pays for basic government services such as police and parks – is spent on the county’s law and justice efforts. The general fund is expected to be in the ballpark of $173.5 million in 2005; in the 2004 adopted budget, it was $169.9 million.
Some cuts for the sheriff’s department are already on the table, beyond Bart’s warning about the 13 deputy positions.
Suggested cuts include eliminating positions for two secretaries, two crime prevention officers and the department’s media spokeswoman.
Bart currently has a department with 334 full-time employees, including 256 commissioned officers. At the start of budget talks earlier this year, he asked for 97 new deputies, plus new equipment and services totaling more than $17 million.
In last week’s memo to Reardon, Bart said he would reassign two deputies to handle desk duty at the north and south precincts if the two secretary positions are cut.
Neely said it is Bart’s decision on how to manage the sheriff’s department.
“As the elected official, he is free to deploy staff where they are needed. That’s his decision,” Neely said.
Bart said residents would suffer if his budget is cut. He said he would press his case with the County Council, which will revise the 2005 budget in October and November before it is adopted.
“People’s safety is at stake. And I take that pretty serious,” Bart said.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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