New county budget calls for deep sheriff's department cuts

By Robert Lewis
rlewis@sacbee.com

Sacramento County is proposing to lay off 370 Sheriff's Department employees including 300 deputies as the department looks to cut more than $80 million from its budget, Sheriff John McGinness said today.

The cuts will be part of a proposed budget the county is scheduled to make public later today. Sacramento County is facing a projected $180 million general fund shortfall in the fiscal year starting July 1.

"If these numbers hold, it will be sufficiently significant the public will notice the difference," McGinness said. "I'll make my case next week to the board that this is an unacceptable cut."

McGinness had originally projected he would have to cut 606 positions. Of that number, 103 were vacant. He's now proposing to cut all 211 vacant positions currently on the department's roster, which helped drop the number of proposed layoffs.

The impact, however, is virtually the same, McGinness said. The department has used the money from funded vacant positions to pay for cheaper "on call" deputies and extra help - many of them department retirees who work in places like the jails or the courts.

Like most cities and counties throughout the state, the recession has battered Sacramento County's sales and property tax receipts. The state's woes have put extra pressure on the county, which gets 70 percent of its general fund money from the state and feds.

Critics, however, have said the county can't place all of the blame on the down economy. They have said County Executive Terry Schutten was too slow to grasp the enormity of the market downturn and didn't begin dealing with the problem early enough. In early April, McGinness called for the Board of Supervisors to fire Schutten.

Budget hearings begin next week and the proposed cuts are far from certain. Unions and county officials are still negotiating possible contract concessions. The department might be able to reduce the layoffs by about 70 deputies if the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association agrees to forego some raises, McGinness said.

The board -- which has said public safety is its top priority - also could restore some funding. That money, however, would have to come from somewhere, meaning other departments could face even greater cuts.

http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1922580.html