Joe Arpaio's office hit with spending restrictions by supervisors

Yvonne Wingett -
May. 26, 2010 01:05 PM
The Arizona Republic

Suspecting Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office has misspent money, the Board of Supervisors imposed significant financial restrictions against the office in two special meetings Wednesday morning.

The five supervisors unanimously decided to force the Sheriff's Office to justify the need for outside bank accounts, limit employees' use of county credit cards, require staff to re-apply for cards by June 11 or face cancellation. They also asked county officials to develop a policy that would limit all non-emergency travel for sheriff's employees next fiscal as well as additional general financial and management recommendations.


The sheriff's office said it's working with its attorneys to file an emergency temporary restraining order, criticizing the board's action as "extremely dangerous and irresponsible."

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"The Sheriff's Office feels that this is pure and simple retaliation for the fact that certain members of the board were the subjects of a criminal investigation by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that ultimately resulted in criminal indictments against them," according to a statement released by Arpaio's office.

Sheriff's officials on Tuesday had said any actions would affect public safety.

However, county officials during Wednesday's meeting disputed that statement. Board attorney Tom Irvine said county officials will be flexible with the new policies and will create exceptions on a case-by-case basis on credit-card purchases.

"We have information that our budget department shared with us that there are misuses," Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said. "The policies we're putting into place right now are to control the future. We do not want to impede public safety, we do not want to put anyone at harm, and the recommendations going forward do not do that, they gain control of the fiscal picture."

Supervisor Andy Kunasek added: "These are appropriate measures in light of some of the issues we've been made aware of. There are safeguards in place for any anomalies. I think they're reasonable limits."

The restrictions come amid a years-long war between the board and Arpaio over money and power.

Suspecting misspending based on a review of some financial documents, the board asked Arpaio to hand over five years' worth of financial data. The board since March has asked the sheriff to turn over financial documents including detailed credit-card transactions, work assignments, a list of all detainees or defendants extradited, and a list of all bank accounts dating to 2005.

The board subpoenaed the information and gave Arpaio until May 7 to turn over the documents. When he missed the deadline, the board tried to convene a contempt hearing on Monday. Attorneys for the Sheriff's Office appealed to the court.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Gordon ruled the board could not force Arpaio to attend the hearing and scheduled a hearing for June 4.

Sheriff's attorney Kerry Martin told The Republic on Tuesday that the board was attempting to retaliate against Arpaio for not turning over the documents.

In a last-ditch legal attempt to stave off the financial sanctions, Martin requested a telephone hearing with Gordon early Wednesday to ask the judge to consider another temporary restraining order against the board if it imposes sanctions.

But Gordon declined to take action, saying he was focused only on whether the board could order the sheriff to appear to a contempt hearing.

The board is uncertain the extent of possible misspending. They believe sheriff's employees have inaccurately reported staff work assignments, and may have inappropriately paid some employees through a voter-approved fund that is restricted to only pay for jail activities. If true, the problem could range from $500,000 for one pay period to $50 million if the problem stretches back several years.

"We have spent a significant amount of time trying to get some of the information from the Sheriff's Office so we can remedy this," Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson told the board Monday. "I believe if we had cooperation from the Sheriff's Office, we would be able to determine the extent of the issues and be able to remedy them quite quickly."

The board's actions on Wednesday:

Cap all Sheriff's Office staff credit cards to a single transaction limit of $200, effective as soon as possible but no later than June 1. The action forbids sheriff staff of breaking transactions to smaller increments to avoid the $200 limit. Directs the sheriff's chief financial officer Loretta Barkell to only use her county credit card for single transactions of up to $200, effective immediately. Barkell would be allowed to use her card for emergencies with a single purchase of $50,000. Any emergency purchase must by approved by county officials in writing within 24 hours after the purchase.

Requires all sheriff's staff to re-apply for cards by June 11. The county's chief procurement officer would cancel all cards unless they are approved by the county manager or his representative on or before June 30.

Directs county officials to create a credit-card distribution policy for the board to consider in the future. The policy restricts credit-cards distribution, use, or limits for the Sheriff's Office next fiscal year.

Directs county officials to propose travel policy changes for the board to consider in the future. The action limits all non-emergency travel for the Sheriff's Office next fiscal year.

Directs county officials to prepare further financial and management recommendations for the board to in the future.

Directs all county officials to justify the need for outside bank accounts.

Sheriff's officials have said the actions would have serious ramifications and could affect everything from street patrols to drug investigations, and disaster and terrorism response.

Irvine said the credit-card policies will provide for exceptions "to maintain their ability to perform their functions" without affecting public safety. For example, he said, if it costs more than $200 to fill fuel a boat on lake patrol, sheriff's officials can use the credit card policy's $50,000 exception to gas up.

Also on Monday, the board adopted a tentative budget that freezes the Sheriff Office's access to racketeering and jail-enhancement funds starting July 1 until they can determine how money is being spent. Sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa Allen said the Sheriff's Office will have to park 100 patrol cars that are paid for with RICO funds.

County Manager David Smith also announced publicly for the first time that the county will pay out more than $2 million to sheriff's employees as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor related to the underpayment of detention officers for overtime expenses. The money will be paid out to about 1,900 detention officers during the next payroll period, Smith said.

Smith said the Sheriff Office's mismanagement of overtime pay is an example of why county officials are concerned: "If we need some reason to be concerned, there's a pretty big one right now," he told the board. "I think the actions that you're taking here are quite reasonable."

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