ISLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
- MINUTES OF MEETING
SPECIAL SESSION – MAY 7, 2002
The Board met in Special
Session on May 7, 2002 at 9:30 a.m.
in budget workshop to review and
discuss how the budget shortfall for
2003 could be addressed within the Island County Sheriff’s Budget and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Budget. The workshop was preliminary only and no decisions made. The
Budget Director, several Elected Officials, Appointed Department Heads
and staff attended.
Island County Sheriff’s Budget
Presentation by: Mike Hawley, Sheriff
Staff: Jan Smith;
Russ Lindner, J. D. Burns
Hand-out: Copy of Overhead
Budget Presentation
2002 Sheriff’s Budget
Criminal/Civil
Division $ 3,341,272
Corrections Division 1,356,193
Total: $ 4,697,465
Budget Savings Already Made in 2002: S/W/B $238,255 M&O $15,000
·
Privatized
jail food services
·
Eliminated:
[now all patrol deputies]
Chief Criminal Deputy Position Lieutenant’s
Position
Detectives Position Evidence Custodian
Position
·
Five
positions unfilled [3-N. precinct; 1-S.
precinct; 1-E precinct]
·
Reduced
motor pool vehicles by one
·
Disbanded
Swat Team
·
Non-mandated
training eliminated
Of the total amount saved, actual savings will be
$63,000 by the end of the year because
of necessary items that have to be funded for
2002, including: employee
retirement cash-outs; contracted specialty pays; fuel and overtime.
Vehicles are turned in with
120,000 to 150,000 miles; 9 cars are needed next year just to keep pace. SWAT Team was disbanded because the Sheriff
could not pay for training for those specialized positions. Non-mandated training eliminated includes
for example first aid training and defense tactics. Need funding for over time because it is absolutely required in
certain instances, for example, the Air Show coming up which will easily cost
$15,000. The Department is currently on
probation with the FBI because of not having enough time to do self-audits
required and the Department in jeopardy of not having the ability to do
criminal history checks.
Sheriff’s Office – 911 Call Sample 1990 compared to 2001
Total 911 Calls: 1990 9,260
2002 22,773
1990 2002
Administrators 5 2
Clerical Support 6
5
Deputies 22 29 *
Detectives 4
5
Crime Lab 3
1
Total 40 42
* 5 unfilled deputy positions
Law Enforcement employee rates per 1,000 population [10/11/00]
Commissioned Comm. Rate
Total Total Rate
Island 36 .71 42.00
.83
Whatcom 66 .89
79.00 1.06
Yakima 70 .73 104.00 1.09
11% Reduction for Sheriff’s Department and Consequences:
$516,721 or about 9.5 deputies
–
Response
time will increase
–
Solvability
of crimes will decrease
–
Traffic
enforcement will be near non-existent
–
Motoring
public will be at greater risk
–
Loss
of valuable personnel
–
All liabilities will soar
– Internal turmoil/stress/burnout will compound all of the above
– Needless errors & poor judgment places public & employees at grave risk
To fill a 24/7 watch, at
least 5-1/2 bodies are needed; to staff two people 24 hrs./day requires a
minimum of 11. The Sheriff’s
ability to do a lot of things is declining.
There is double staff during the day and swing shift, but 2:00 a.m. –
7:00 a.m. block of space without coverage.
Further cuts means going to an “on-call” deputy basis. Internally starting to see the results: applications being submitted for jobs
elsewhere; employees are uncertain,
stressed out and burned out. Those in
law enforcement like to think they do their jobs because it is the right thing
to do and have the backing and support of the public. A poll is circulating around the office on a no confidence vote in the Sheriff, an
indicator of the and uncertainty and not feeling they have the backing of the
Sheriff, Board or public. Bottom
line: government exists
primarily for the protection of
its people and its property. Keep in mind that employees in other
departments are not asked to go out and risk their life. He urged that some decision be made early on
so as not to leave employees dangling.
Discussion.
The Commissioners and
Sheriff discussed the funding problem and the actual dollars Island County will
lose in 2003, combined totals in excess of 1-1/2 million dollars.
Commissioners Shelton, McDowell and Thorn each expressed the primary mission and top priority and concern
of government was public health and safety.
One of the things
Commissioner Thorn mentioned was that at the Town Meeting on Camano Island last
month revenue problems were explained and he asked citizens what their
priorities were for funding, and the result was that no one wanted to give up
any programs and expressed reasonably strong support for law enforcement. He was interested in reviewing whether any revenue assistance could come from the
County’s Rural County Designation that could perhaps go towards funding a
deputy position. Although those
revenues are dedicated to business development and business infrastructure,
he thought there could be some
rationale that would make some sense.
Another point brought out by
the Chairman was the possibility of
putting before the voters a 1/10th of 1% tax as provided in House Bill 1477 recently
enacted that could be used to pay for a
variety of projects and activities associated with emergency
communications. That could yield as
much as $450,000 to $500,000 and go a long way toward paying the County’s
commitment to I-COM now included within the Sheriff’s Budget from Current
Expense. The Chairman was willing to
work with organizations who have been
very supportive of law enforcement in Island County to help promote the proposition.
Island County
Prosecuting Attorney’s Budget
Presentation by: Greg Banks, Prosecutor
Staff: Caroline
Morse
Hand-out: Copy of
Overhead: 2003 Budget Presentation
The Prosecuting Attorney is
an elected county officer mandated by Washington State Constitution; must be an attorney;
prosecutes crimes in the name of the State; is the legal advisor to
other County Officials; serves as the
County’s legal representative and works to
advance and improve the justice system. RCW 36.27.020. The hand-out explained with specific detail the functions and duties of the
Prosecuting Attorney in the following categories [summarized]:
Criminal
Function [charts provided for each of
the following]
Prevent
crime by keeping criminals off the street, out of schools, businesses and homes
Felony Prosecution, Felony
Referrals, Filings & Trends
Misdemeanor Cases; Juvenile
Referrals, Filings & Trends
Law
Enforcement Agencies Served
Approximately 70
commissioned local law enforcement
officers = each
of the 6 criminal
deputy prosecutor’s serve an average
over 11 officers
County; Oak Harbor; Coupeville; Langley; WSP; Liquor Control
Bd.;
W. S. Parks; Fish &
Wildlife; DSHS; NCIS; US Customs; Secret Service;
Postal Inspector
Civil
Function
Provides legal advice to
county offices and represents the
County in some lawsuits
Review County contracts;
Island County Code reviser; enforces child support
Mental health commitments
Perform background checks on
bail bondsmen
Member, Elections canvassing
Board and Justice Court Districting
Committee
Organization
of Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
Prosecutor – elected
8
Attorneys - 6 Criminal Deputies; 2
Civil Deputies
Support Staff:
Receptionist; Juvenile Legal Assistant; Misdemeanor Legal Assistant; 2 Felony Legal Assistants; Civil
Legal Assistant; Office Manager
Economics
of County Legal Services
State
pays one-half of the Prosecutor’s
salary; Support Enforcement fully paid by the State Total Cost –
Prosecutor’s Office $935,407
Total “billable” hours 18,180 for an average cost
to the County per hour of legal
services [including staff salary, benefits and
M&O) $51.45/hour compared
to
Risk Pool attorneys at $125-165/hr plus expenses
Increasing
experience levels mean more efficient service with better outcomes
Efforts
Resulting in Improved Efficiency
·
Merge
to single office eliminated redundancy
·
Eliminated
one level of management of attorneys w/commensurate lowering of paygrade
·
Laid
off ½ time legal assistant; redistributed work loads
·
Reduced
number of attorneys in court
·
Office
Administrator cut costs
·
File
destruction schedule & organization
·
File
organization; central filing
·
Greatly reduced library costs [shared electronic]
·
Electronic
case management system; standardized procedures on server
·
Electronic
brief bank on server; all case documents stored on server
·
Designed/implemented
multi-part scheduling order
·
Standardized
forms on server
·
Probation
violations handled on special calendar
·
Most
efficient paternity unit in the State
11%
Cut in Expenditures 2003 Budget
2002 Current Expense $
946,153
2002 L&J Fund 92,403
$1,038,556
-State
reimbursement 103,149
Total $ 935,407
11% Reduction =
$102,894.77
Outsourcing
Considered
“Bounceback”
- bad check cases – but would affect only 21 cases
Appellate Counsel for Hire - not cost
effective and gradually degrade institutional
legal expertise gained from having appellate expert in house
GMA
appeals – tremendous cost w/downside of not having institutional knowledge at end of the cases
Drug
Prosecution – outsource felony drug
prosecutions to a Snohomish County DPA,
paid for by a State grant;
funding is uncertain; barely provides any advantage because
of administrative overhead and management conflicts
Proposals -
Prosecutor’s Office
·
Cut
M&O - many costs are unpredictable
and no fat to cut
·
Eliminate
1 Attorney and 1 Assistant $100,000
-would be complete disaster, and create a combined civil/felony
position
-return support staff level to pre-1998
-mistakes will be
made, public safety and county liability
will suffer
·
Eliminate
2 Attorney Positions $120,000
-would be a complete disaster
-would cut Civil
DPA and 1 Felony DPA
-civil/GMA,
deadbeat dad, appeals, probation violations and 0.5 FTE felony caseload distributed to remainder
-
expect
those not laid off would seek work elsewhere
-
many
property crimes and drug cases would not be prosecuted
·
Eliminate
1 Attorney $60,000
-create combined civil/felony position
-less than 11% [already
laid off 0.5 FTE legal assistant]
-push many non-violent
felony cases into District Court as misdemeanors
-would require
cooperation from courts in re-scheduling certain calendars
·
Revenue
and Grants
-No ethical or advantageous means of raising
revenue
-Grants
are unworkable for this size office.
Other
County Budget Considerations/Suggestions
·
No
more cuts until non-essential County functions and expenditures are cut
·
Other
areas that warrant consideration - charitable donations of taxpayer dollars
Whidbey Conservation District $10,000
County Historical Society
2,500
Ebey’s Landing Historical Reserve 10,000
Oak Harbor Senior Center 67,141
Senior Services of Island County 66,840
Oak Harbor Adult Day Care 10,609
Camano Senior Center 45,835
Senior Services Adult Day Care 10,609
EDC 32,500
NW Regional Council 48,518
·
Consolidate
small departments
Response to WSU Cooperative Extension Budget Workshop comments April 22, 2002, with regard to 4-H and where Don Meehan had compared the cost of justice to the cost of WSU preventative programs believing the 4H program saves society and the County hundreds and thousands of dollars keeping youth in safe and happy homes and engaged in activities. Though Mr. Banks doubted that was true, even if it were true he pointed out that numbers of folks and organizations that spend numerous hours of volunteering with youth without expecting to be compensated.
Meeting at 11:35 a.m. The
Board will meet in Regular Session on
May 13, 2002,
beginning at 9:30 a.m.
ISLAND COUNTY, WASHINGTON
______________________________
Mike Shelton, Chairman
_____________________________
Wm. L. McDowell, Member
_____________________________
William F. Thorn, Member
ATTEST:
____________________________
Elaine Marlow, Clerk of the Board