Sheriff's "big bully" budgeting

I read the Fresno Bee "Local News" section and I see that Sheriff Pierce has finally listened to someone, Cal Minor, and decided to take the deputies out of the jail and UMC.

He has now, 5 months, before the end of his term decided to put those forty or so deputies back out to patrol the streets and provide law enforcement services to the citizens of Fresno County.

Now the truth of the matter is that only 14 of those deputies will be available for immediate deployment, the others will need to be worked into the training program and provided they successful complete it will be sent out to work a beat. Currently on certain shifts entire beats are not being filled even with around 500 overtime shifts being staffed every month. So if you do the math the average deputy works about 16 days a month, this figure accounts for three weeks vacation and another four days for annual leave and sick time. Ok at 16 work days a month times 14 additional deputies (immediately deployed) that equals 224 additional shifts filled monthly by those 14 additional deputies. That means the current 500 overtime shifts minus the 224 additional shifts still leaves 276 overtime shifts that will need to be filled. Now if all the beats on every shift were filled which they should be, would push the number of overtime shifts back up in the neighborhood of 350 per month. The bottom line is that the 14 deputies who will immediately be sent out to patrol, originally came from patrol. So if the board of supervisors thinks that overtime will be significantly reduced they are only kidding themselves.

The board of supervisors needs to wake up and take a serious look at what's going on in Fresno County. Why you may ask? The answer is simple property tax revenue and other tax revenues have increased significantly over the past 10 years due to the mass influx of population into this county. Ok I'll break it down for all of you. The population in Fresno County has increased around 30 percent since 1995 and when I say the county I am including all the cities in the county. Yes, Fresno and Clovis have had significant population increases. The cost of housing has gone up over 100 percent in the last 10 years. Here's an example, if you bought a $250,000 home in 2001 it's worth over $500,000 today. Why is this important? Because property taxes are based on the amount you pay for your home and if the price doubles so does the amount of property tax you pay. Now the last time I checked those property tax payments go to V. Crow the Fresno County Auditor Controller whether you live in the City of Clovis or the City of Fresno. So what is the County of Fresno doing with all of this tax revenue? Yes I know the cities get their share and the state gets their share as well, but the amount being collected has drastically increased over the past ten years. What is the board of supervisors doing with it? I'll tell you what they should be doing. They should be budgeting for those tax revenues to provide additional public safety services such as fire and law enforcement.

Bob Waterston should be seeing the rapid growth first hand since his area covers Shaver Lake, Clovis, Auberry, and other mountain areas in northeastern Fresno County. Those people are creating a need for law enforcement, fire services, and public works. Many of the current patrol beats in Fresno County are too big for one deputy to patrol or they have too many citizens living in them to be effectively and safely patrolled by one deputy. I challenge the citizens of Fresno County to contact their supervisors and ask them why they couldn't make room in the budget to fund 38 additional deputies. Based on current needs the department needs at least 38 additional deputies on top of the forty Sheriff Pierce is taking from the jail and UMC. This is the 4th largest county in the State of California; they need to provide adequate staffing for a county of this size. Remember adequate staffing and resources for public safety ensures the safety of the citizens who live in the county areas. Sometimes I wonder if the supervisors really care about your safety by the amount of money they provide for law enforcement and fire services in Fresno County. The other point I have is that Sheriff Pierce should've thought of this a year or so ago and then he could've had most of those forty deputies patrol trained by now and available to work a beat. It took the three Assistant Sheriffs and Sheriff Pierce this long to finally figure out how to put more deputies on the street. THAT IS EVEN MORE REASON WHY WE NEED CAL MINOR AS THE SHERIFF OF FRESNO COUNTY.

If we want the Supes to give the S.O. more money, it's only reasonable to ask that the S.O. provide them with the information they're asking for.

Elizabeth Egan withdrew her request for additional funding after reviewing her budget and finding that there was enough there to cover her needs. How can we know that there aren't enough funds already in the S.O. budget if Pierce won't give the Supes (and the public) the information they requested?

So, Johnny, let me get this straight...you complained in your many entries before the election none of the current administration is doing anything about putting deputies on the street.

Now that the Sheriff and his staff have come up with a workable plan to get more Deputies out on the street, you are complaining that they didn't do it fast enough? And this is your argument for why Cal should be elected? That's weak!

Did Cal look at the Budget, figure out a way to add 40 Deputies and then tell the Sheriff how to do this? I don't think so.

According to you, the Sheriff "listened" to Cal. As you have critiqued earlier, the Sheriff never "listens" to anyone so why would he now, all of a sudden, change and supposedly listen to Cal? Your argument doesn't make sense.

You are making alot of assumptions about how the Budget process works. Alot of the money the Sheriff gets is already allocated towards specific known costs (like salaries and benefits). In fact, about 80% of his budget is already allocated when the Board finally gets around to giving him the money in August or September. He doesn't have alot of room to "float" costs (try asking some of the vendors who do business with the Sheriff's Dept. and have to wait 60-90 days for reimbursement for services about that!)

The argument you presented demands the Sheriff hire people with money he never had. Anyone in business knows it's cheaper to pay overtime than hire another body. Costs include equiping a second person, training a second person, paying two people to do one person's job (trainer and trainee), salary, and the most expensive part, benefits.

Look at the Annual Summary of how much money you've made that the County recently sent out.

Notice the part about benefits. Did you actually make that much in "cash" or did your total include benefits? The correct answer includes "benefits". That is why the Sheriff couldn't just "hire" more Deputies. The Board wouldn't give him the money to hire anymore.

Now, just so the regular citizens know, the Board controls the money for the County. The Board is like parents giving their kids an allowance. Save it or spend it, you only get so much. They allocate money to each County Department every year. Each Department is responsible to run itself with the money it's given.

Truly, the Board doesn't care if the Sheriff saves money or spends it all. They are only going to give him a specific amount to work with and that's it. Now, they will dip into the savings they keep aside for unexpected emergencies to reimburse him for costs, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

Why is there mandatory overtime anyways Johnny? Do you know? Ask around...there are plenty of "theories" but if you ask the Sheriff, and actually do some investigation into the true facts about when it started, you will discover something interesting.

It started a couple of months after Eric Tellen was killed. Why? Because the Sheriff listened to the Deputies complaints about inadequate staffing in Area 4. The Deputies blamed Eric's death on a lack of manpower. So, the Sheriff responded by implementing overtime in Area 4. That demand then went to inadequate staffing in Patrol in all of the areas. So, preferred staffing minimums were established and more overtime was created.

The Courts were the next ones who needed help. Are Deputies too good to help out their Bailff brothers? According to your theory, they are.

Ok, so now the hospital. Why did the Sheriff put Deputies in the hospital? Honestly, does the public realize how many prisoners there are in the hospital? At times, there are more prisoners in the hospital than Deputies on the street. Who is better to guard them and protect the citizens who may have to come into contact with them than Deputies?

They are better trained to deal with active escape attempts than C.O.'s are. Not to insult the C.O.'s, but they are used to a secure facility setting and aren't used to an open situation like the hospital presents. Ask a citizen who they would rather have guard an inmate lying in the bed next to their family member and see what their answer is.

By the way, most Deputies initially didn't mind the overtime as it allowed them extra "play" money and fulfilled their sense of duty to help out their Area 4 brothers and sisters who were working with just 2 Deputies every night. They started complaining when it became "mandatory" and they got tired of working in Area 4.

Now, most of them are probably counting on that overtime to make their "toy" payments. So, are you going to blame Sheriff Pierce for the financial problems these Deputies created for themselves when the overtime dries up? You can't have your cake and eat it too, Johnny.

Ultimately, the Sheriff's Dept. needs over 100 more Deputies to meet the minimum standard of 2 per 1,000 citizens.

This is a great start and the Sheriff and his staff deserve kudos for all of their hard work to get these positions. Kudos should also go out to all of the Deputies who worked the overtime to fulfill their own demands-more staffing.

Andy,

The idea to take deputies out of the jail and out of UMC and put them back on patrol was Cal Minor's idea during the entire campaign. Do I need to replay the recordings of all the debates and reread you all of the articles in the Fresno Bee because he talks about this plan in all of those forums.

Guess what else Andy, Sheriff Pierce is taking the depuites out of the schools as well. Now be honest with yourself and the other readers, Cal Minor was the only one who said that having depuites in the schools was inefficient and not a good use of resources. That my friend is a FACT because every other candidate is on record stating that they would keep the deputies in the schools.

THIS WAS ALL CAL MINOR'S PLAN FROM THE START OF THIS ELECTION, YOU AND NO ONE ELSE CAN DENY THAT. IT IS POOR AND INEFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT BY THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION TO TAkE THIS LONG TO COME UP WITH A SOLUTION TO THE STAFFING PROBLEM. IF CAL MINOR COULD FIGURE OUT WHAT THE PROBLEMS WERE WITH DEPARTMENT IN SIX MONTHS JUST THINK WHAT HE COULD DO IF HE WAS "SHERIFF" FOR THE NEXT FOUR OR EIGHT YEARS.

By the way Andy I don't work hardly any overtime, less than 10 hours a month. So I am not upset about the increased staffing and the reduction in overtime. In fact I think it's a great thing if it actually happens. The deputies can spend more time at home with their friends and family.

Your wrong Andy, most people would rather see their tax dollars spent wisely and they don't see the need for higher paid deputies to be guarding inmates at UMC. Most citizens that I have talked to would rather see deputies working patrol not guarding inmates.

Oh yes and back to the overtime issue. In the past I have heard the current administration state that once we get the boating deputies back in September and the 8 trainees off of training there will be little to no ovetime left to staff. Ok let me see, 3 boating deputies back to patrol along with the 8 deputies off of training, that makes 11 deputies. (Wow we're getting 14 because of this reorganization that is only 3 more, big deal.) Last September we got those 11 deputies back to patrol and yes for a month overtime slowed down, but by mid October it was almost back up to where it left off at the end of August. It's time for a badly needed change and Cal Minor can make those badly needed changes to improve the department. If the citizens don't elect him it's their loss because he could and would be a great Sheriff for Fresno County. With all of his good ideas Mims could always hire him on as a consultant to properly run the department, come up with good ideas that really work, and to make all of the important decisions.

Anyone familiar with Sheriff Pierce's philosophy for his agency knows that placing deputies in every school in the county has been a cornerstone of his organizational structure since he has been in office.

THEN he put 40 Deputy Sheriff positions into the jail because he thought they needed "seasoning" before assuming Deputy duties. THEN he replaced Correctional Officers with Deputy Sheriff's for all functions at area hospitals and mental health facilities because he didn't trust the C/O's abilities to do the job they are trained for. Because the deputies assigned to these functions would normally have been assigned to patrol and investigative functions, their absence has created a critical staffing shortage. As a result of the critical staffing shortage, mandatory overtime is costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars per month just to keep a skeleton crew of deputies on the streets. Despite repeated pleas from the Deputy Sheriff's Association, the Sheriff has steadfastly refused to reconsider deployment of Deputy Sheriffs to those positions.

We owe a great deal of gratitude to Supervisors Perea and Watrerston for publicly using the budget process to point out the mismanagement of Sheriff resources and demanding to see a redeployment plan for existing Deputy Sheriff positions before they would consider a request to fund additional positions.

It is on record, both video and print, that Cal Minor stated he would take Deputy Sheriffs out of the jail, out of the hospital and out of the schools, then redeploy them to patrol and investigative positions. It is also on record that Margaret Mimms stubbornly refused to even consider the possibility of taking deputies of the schools or hospitals. After a great deal of pressure, she did concede to Cal Minor that she would consider removing the deputies from the jail. Don't forget, however, that she is the one responsible for putting deputies in the jail and hospitals to begin with!

This is clearly nothing more than an effort by the good 'ol boys to steal the thunder from Cal Minor, in order to keep one of their own in power. Margie Mimms has neither the vision nor the leadership required to run this agency.

Thanks again to Supervisor Perea for reinforcing what Cal Minor has been saying all along...it's time for a change in leadership. It's time for Cal Minor!

The first writers (Johnny) comment, that Pierce listened to Minor and took deputies out of the jails is just plain false.

If you review Mims' campaign statements at every debate and forum, the plan approved by the board of supervisors is exactly, word-for-word, Margaret Mims' proposal to increase the number of deputies on the street. Her plan thoughtfully and realisticaly explained where the funds and personnel would come from. Minor did not.

Now the supervisors have approved the Mims plan exactly as she had outlined in her campaign. As I recall, Minor always derided Mims' plan as too little and that he would add 70 more deputies with more money from the board of supervisors. Mims' proposal to add 38 deputies from the jail was a responsible and realistic approach to making the increases. She explained exactly where the funds and personnel would come from.

Assistant Sheriff Mims has worked under 3 or 4 Fresno County sheriffs. She has the background and experinece that Minor lacks (but claims he has). She knows the department and budget inside out. Her experience and understanding of the department and county budgeting helped her formulate the now approved plan for more deputies on the street. Just ask her. She will impress you with her knowledge and insight. You won't get that from Minor.

In the budgeting sessions, Pierce asked for an additional $6 million from the board of supervisors for more deputies to make the point that the board would never give him $6 millon. There is no money and the board would never give that kind of increase to the department - and Pierce (and Mims) knew it.

As for Minor, when it came to increasing the number of deputies on the streets, he only made generaliztions and unrealiztic assertions (as any would-be challanger would do) on how he would increase the number of deputies on the street - he'd get the money from the BOS. Minor is an outsider after all and know better, right? The truth is, Pierce listened to Mims. (Pierce even alluded to a candidates' plan in the board hearings when he made the presentation to the board - and he wasn't talking about Minor's plan). Johnny is obviously a Minor supporter and rushed to this blog to claim credit for Minor where credit was not due.

Well I see that MJL is a huge Mims supporter and is blind to the truth. Yeah, that's it the plan implemented last week is word for word what Asst Sheriff Mims proposed. NOT!!!

Well you seem to think that Pierce is stating it was Mims plan. Once again not true, I have other info that states it was in deed Minor's plan. I like how MJL uses the number "38", the same number of deputies Pierce asked for this last week.(Convienent) That's funny because there aren't "38" depuites coming from the jail. It's about 20 from the jail, 21 from UMC Positions, and another 14 or so from ESSP.

I read the article from The Fresno Bee in May and it outlines what each candidate wanted to do. Mims states that she wants to enhance community oriented policing and keep deputies in the schools, both of which are a drain on resources and would actually mean less deputies to patrol the streets. Not to mention that community oriented policing is costing the department alot of overtime money in regards to deputies attending meetings and going to special events.

Oh yes and cops in schools also creates more ovetime because of baseball games and summer camps. YOU PEOPLE STATING MIMS CAME UP WITH ALL OF THESE IDEAS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE AND BY CLAIMING SHE DID SHOWS A COMPLETE LACK OF INTEGRITY ON THE PART OF THOSE CLAIMING SHE DID. I AM ALSO TIRED OF BEING MISQUOTED BY SOME OF YOU MENTALLY CHALLENGED BLOGGERS, IT'S AMAZING HOW YOU MISQUOTE WHAT I BLOGGED, SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT MINOR PROPOSED, AND NOW ARE IMAGINING THAT MIMS SOLVED ALL THESE PROBLEMS. MAYBE YOU PEOPLE SHOULD CONSIDER A DOSE OF REALITY. IT SHOULD BE COMING AROUND NOVEMBER 7TH.

Well, I know everyone wants their candidate to take credit for this decision to put more deputies on the streets, but Pierce is the current sheriff and he had the final decision to implement it.

I have listened to and watched the campaign intensely over the past six or seven months and I feel I need to set the record straight as a former Fresno County deputy. All of you who are claiming it was Mims plan are in sharp denial of the truth.

The truth is her plan kept the deputies in the schools under ESSP. She was for implementing programs aimed at prevention rather than enforcement, and she wanted to keep deputies in the jail. She also wanted to enhance community policing and reduce crime through prevention and other programs that had little or nothing to do with a significant increase in patrol staffing.

Yes, it's true Mr Minor may have slighlty overstated the number of deputies that he could add to the patrol force. Here is the current run down on staffing that will be returning to patrol:

1. There are 20 deputies assigned to the SDU.
2. There are 20 deputies assigned to the jail.
3. There are about 16 deputies assigned to the cops in schools program.
4. The last I heard there are currently 10 deputies in the training program.

If you add all of these numbers up, you get a total of 66 deputies. I have to say that Mr Minor was not off by much; he was actually off by 4 deputies.

I remember Mims constantly saying that Minor couldn't add that many deputies to patrol. It looks like it can be done. Oh, before I forget, there were recently 6 sergeant promotions so that actually makes a total of 60 going to patrol.

I don't know who these people are who keep boasting about it being Mims plan and all, but I wish The Fresno Bee would put them in check. They are making false statements just to give their candidate credit for something she really didn't do.

You would think that those bloggers would admit that the plan Pierce submitted for reorganization was primarily derived from Cal Minor.

One last thing: thank you, Mr Minor, for running for Fresno County sheriff and having the strength and integrity to bring the mismanagement of the department to the public's attention. All the citizens of Fresno County owe you a debt of gratitude for making their department more efficient and effective, in turn making Fresno County a safer place.

I too was shocked by MJL's feeble attempt to give Mims credit for coming up with this "amazing" plan to redeploy deputies from the jail, hospital and schools back to patrol. I have the televised debates on video and replayed them just to be certain my memory wasn't playing tricks on me. No...Mims strongly stated her commitment to keep deputies in the schools and hospital, but finally relented and said she would consider redeploying the jail deputies back to patrol.

Mr Boren, as the Bee editor, I beg you to set the record straight on this matter! Sheriff Pierce didn't have a sudden epiphany; Asst Sheriff Mims didn't provide compelling argument for redeployment...these ideas came directly from Cal Minor. Those plans were provided in writing to the Bee editorial board, as well as other community and media outlets. The Fresno Bee has endorsed Cal Minor for Sheriff. I can only hope the Bee staff is interested in promoting truth in this race.

(Editor's note: Betsy Lumbye is executive editor of The Bee and in charge of news coverage. As editorial page editor, I only have responsibility for the opinion pages. Please direct questions about The Bee's news coverage to Betsy. JB)

All this infighting between Minor and Mims supporters does raise an issue to me regarding this budget request:

Of the two candidates which one is more likely to be open and forthright with the Board of Supervisors and the public regarding the budget process? I think the last thing we want is "more of the same."

Mike, as a conservative taxpayer in this county I share your concern with the necessity to be open and forthright in how our tax dollars are spent. Mims represents "more of the same," which is a giant shell game designed to conceal pockets of money from the Board, the other county agencies and the public.

I know, I've witnessed it firsthand. Mims has been a part of and willing participant in this system for years. As a Lt in charge of the canine unit, she forgot to budget dog food for an entire year. One would think that dog food would be at the top of the list of things to budget for the canines!

The point is, the money magically appeared and the canines didn't starve...the financial shell game is alive and well. Can anyone reasonably expect this to change overnight? I think not.

Cal Minor has repeatedly guaranteed a transparent organization...including the budget. Cal is a fiscal conservative and has a successful history of maintaining large and balanced budgets.

Once again, Cal Minor is the right choice for Fresno County Sheriff.

Why do I care about the past? Convince me -- the voter, who has yet to cast my ballot, what, why, how, and where I can find the info.

The numbers are in and Cal won over Mims, according to Victor Salazar, our county registrar. Your posts are passionate, but you are arguing over 10,000 voters. I would try to convince people who didn't vote in the primary, to vote for each of the forerunners by using facts and links to web sites so they can each reach their own conclusion.

Remember that Flores [who works under Mims] ran too. Anyone without information on the candidates can go to the Fresno County Registars web site for a breakdown of the November ballot -- also anyone who has knowledge of the Sunshine and Brown laws can access public records.

For more on the proposed budget go to http://www.co.fresno.ca.us/portal/