Title
Receive the Sheriff’s Office Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 mid-year financial status report.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors’ Budget Committee to receive the Sheriff’s Office Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 mid-year financial status report.
SUMMARY:
The Sheriff’s Office (the Office) is pleased to report that there are eight safety position vacancies which includes one Chief Deputy Sheriff’s position and 14 support staff vacancies as of this writing. A year ago, the Office had 31 safety position vacancies and 13 support staff vacancies. Between January 2017 and January 2018, there were 14 safety and six support staff separations which means 37 hires in safety positions and five hires in support positions. The Office has been focused on hiring and filling safety positions but now it puts more efforts in filling support staff positions. All 25 patrol deputies who were transferred to Corrections Operations to fill in the mandatory positions transferred back to Patrol Operations. Because of fewer vacancies, the overtime spending is getting less in each pay period. However, there is less salary and benefits savings to close the overtime funding gap. There are eleven trainees at the Jail and five trainees at the Patrol and the training program takes three to four months for the Jail and five months for the Patrol. Additionally, there are nine recruits in Police Academy. At any time of a year, there are 30 to 40 safety employees who are not fully functional for various reasons. Therefore, it is inevitable to incur overtime to fill the mandatory positions and to provide law enforcement and protection services to public. The overtime overrun is expected to be $3.4 million at the end of the fiscal year and the salaries and benefits savings due to vacancies are expected to be $1.9 million, $1.5 million net shortage in salaries and benefits. The $1.5 million shortage in salaries and benefits include unbudgeted $100,000 retirees’ medical costs, $150,000 vacation buy backs, and $400,000 termination benefits. Other expected overspent areas are: 1) $283,000 in vehicle related costs such as increase fuel costs and underbudgeted Vehicle Asset Management Program (VAMP) lease payments; 2) $284,000 in training costs for recruits and specialized teams, increased contract costs and other various services and supplies costs; and 3) projected Proposition 172 public safety sales tax revenue shortage of $105,000. Below is the summary of the Sheriff’s Office FY 2017-18 General Fund Contribution (GFC) overrun of $4.34 million:
Funding shortage in salaries & benefits: $1,507,680
Funding shortage in vehicle related costs: $ 283,560
Funding shortage in various services & supplies: $ 284,139
Prop. 172 public safety sales tax revenue shortage: $ 104,459 $2,179,838
COWCAP allocation increase: $2,158,748
Total: $4,338,586
To mitigate the expected GFC overrun, the Office has implemented below changes:
• Assign a Training Sergeant to the Patrol and a Deputy is assigned to the Training Division.
• Reduced overtime due to eliminating weekday midnight shifts in the Coastal Station.
• Eliminated extra patrols in high crime areas in North County.
• One Administrative Sergeant in the Corrections Operation Bureau is assigned to shift assignment.
• New contracts attained to guard inmates at hospitals instead of Deputies.
• Restrictions on trainings.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The County Administrative Office has reviewed the report.
FINANCING:
No financing is included in the report. The Sheriff’s Office will do its best to manage the operating costs.
Approved by:
______________________________
Steve Bernal, Sheriff-Coroner