Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart says his department is on track to overspend its overtime budget by about $350,000.
“We’re broke. We have an overtime budget way in the hole,” Bart said.
Recently, the sheriff’s office sent a memo to County Council members outlining the potential shortfall, saying “overtime costs are higher for the first quarter than they have been in the past.”
The sheriff’s office spent about $800,000 in overtime in the first four months of the year. That’s about 43 percent of its total annual overtime budget, according to projections sent with the memo.
“We’re trying to figure out why this year we’ve spent so much in overtime,” Bart said.
The sheriff said he typically goes to the council in August to ask for more money.
“The trend we have now means we’re going to run out of money quicker,” he said.
County Council member Jeff Sax said the issue has yet to come before the council’s Law and Justice Committee, which is made up of all five County Council members.
Staff members from the county executive’s office are expected to meet with council staff to discuss the issue next week, said Sax, who heads the Law and Justice Committee.
“We need to see what the issue really is,” Sax said.
Meanwhile, Bart said his office is trying to pinpoint why deputies are working so much overtime. He points to an increased number of calls and the ongoing need for more deputies.
“We’re getting hit really hard because of the workload,” Bart said.
The sheriff requested $60 million, including 25 more people, information he included in the projections sent to the council. The council adopted a $37.4 million budget for the department.
Law and justice programs make up 71 percent of the county’s $550 million budget.
Bart said his office is implementing changes now in hopes of cutting down on overtime costs. He said he’s eliminating discretionary overtime and is taking a look at other ways to reduce overtime.
“There is a lot of overtime that we can’t predict,” he said.
Deputies are paid overtime to accommodate emergency calls that extend past the end of their shifts, Bart said.
His office is looking at ways to reduce those shift extensions.
“What’s alarming to me is I’m making policy decisions right now because of lack of money. It may affect the way we operate,” he said.
Diana Hefley is a reporter for The Herald in Everett.
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