Bastrop County Sheriff Terry Pickering stood before the Bastrop County Court of Commissioners at a special meeting Wednesday and made an impassioned plea for a budget increase for FY 2014-15 totaling roughly $3 million for more manpower, cars and wages for his department.
While commissioners took no action on Pickering’s request on the amendment to the proposed budget, which will be brought for formal approval at a Sept. 22 meeting, County Judge Paul Pape said Wednesday that there was “no way” such a request could be approved.
The proposed budget projects roughly $1.4 million more in property tax revenue than last year, giving the county that block of funding to disperse among its various departments.
“There’s no way in the world I could approve a $3 million budget increase this year and meet everyone else’s needs as well,” said Pape. “That’s the challenge.”
The current proposed budget for the sheriff’s office — roughly $14.4 million, or about half of the county’s total budget — largely rejected most of the sheriff’s requests for additional funding, though the sheriff’s office will still see an increase of more $540,000 to their budget from last year, which included the staffing of two additional dispatch employees and two compliance clerks.
But Pickering was unimpressed by the boost, instead calling for a year-over-year budget increase totalling more than $3 million that he said would allow the department to employ additional patrol deputies, offer overtime compensation to staff members, purchase new police vehicles and keep in place a longevity pay increase scale that would result in several staff members receiving raises next year.
“I think the staff deserves more than that, and I don’t think I would be a good leader if I didn’t stand up here and fight for it,” said Pickering, accompanied by more than 20 uniformed deputies at the courthouse. “It’s really detrimental to the morale of the staff.”
Bastrop resident Patrick Connell, who formerly spent 10 years as a paramedic in Las Vegas and with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services, also spoke to commissioners Wednesday morning, citing a need for additional funding to ensure the county could maintain experienced and qualified officers.
“My final concern with the proposed budget is that this year, the county finds itself with $1,468,860 in additional revenue when compared to last year,” said Connell, who noted that he was not a county employee, but simply a concerned citizen with former experience in the field. “Why is it that we can’t find some money in there to hire new deputies, outfit them with equipment and put them behind the wheel of a police car?”
Included in the proposed budget is a county-wide one percent raise for cost-of-living adjustments for staff members and a two percent raise based on merit, which would be allocated by the supervisors of the various departments. Jail staff members who received a six percent pay increase last year will be excluded from these raises.
“Eighty-five percent of our budget goes to salaries,” said Pape. “To give a three percent increase takes a large amount of that $1.4 million.”
Among the concerns raised by the sheriff’s office was a need for additional employees at the county jail to bulk up the support staff. Although the county jail’s average daily population was lower in 2014 than any other time in the last five years — 279, compared to 310 and 290 in 2012 and 2013 — Pickering said additional factors needed be taken into consideration, including the number of female inmates, which affects the location they and male inmates are placed.
Commissioner Clara Beckett said that the lower number of average daily inmates and the jail’s inmate-to-staff ratio — currently about 2.6 to one — suggested the jail didn’t need an increase of manpower.
“We want to get the numbers right, and we don’t want over-budget,” she said, adding that the number of federal inmates — a source of revenue for the county — has steadily dropped since 2009. “We’ve over-budgeted five years in a row.”
Pickering also raised concern over cancelled pay increases scheduled for several sheriff’s office employees based on the time spent at their position. He said the decision could ultimately lead staff members to look for more lucrative opportunities in other counties.
“One of my best sergeants is leaving for Travis County,” he said, also noting that hiring and training a new deputy costs the county roughly $29,000. “These guys are outstanding individuals and true leaders, but they have to take care of their families.”
Six years ago, commissioners approved the pay scales in question to bring the county up to par with the salaries offered by comparable counties. According to Pape, pay scales for law enforcement and jail staff have now caught up compared to other rural counties in central Texas.
Beckett added that while the commissioners court supports law enforcement, officials have to balance funding with the interest of the rest of the county.
“There are consequences to funding a $3 million budget request,” she said. “It would result in financial catastrophe.”
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