 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Traffic ticket revenue lagging
By WILL VAN SANT BROOKSVILLE -- While the budget of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office has doubled in the last decade and its number of employees has increased by nearly a third, the amount of money the department has generated for the county through ticketing drivers has not kept pace. According to documents filed with the county Circuit Court Clerk's Office, between 1993 and 1995 the department brought in an average of $280,020 to the general fund annually by issuing citations. Between 2000 and 2002, the department contributed $337,957 a year to the general fund through ticketing drivers. That amounts to a 20 percent increase. Between 1993 and 2002, the department's budget grew by 90 percent, increasing from $10.1-million to $19.2-million. The numberof employees grew from 235 to 333 in the same period. County Commissioner Robert Schenck said the job of the Sheriff's Office was to make the community safer, not provide revenue to the county. Still, he said, the numbers warranted attention from both the County Commission and law enforcement. "This is definitely something the Sheriff's (Office) has to answer," Schenck said. In 1994, when the department's budget stood at $10,990,270, it issued 16,747 citations and brought in $322,180 to the general fund. In 2001, with a budget of $17,007,102, the Sheriff's Office issued 15,891 citations, generating $280,466 for the county. In the same period, Hernando County's population grew 22 percent from 111,947 to 136,484; the number of miles driven daily on county roads increased by roughly 50 percent to 3.3-million and the number of reported crashes grew 95 percent from 1,435 in 1993 to 2,791 in 2002. Sheriff Richard Nugent said he was doubtful of the numbers available at the clerk's office, saying the reporting methods of his department were more reliable. The Sheriff's Office, however, does not keep records of how much money it is generating for the county. "We don't look at that," Nugent said. Nugent, though satisfied with the efforts made by his department, said he was aware there exists a need for more traffic enforcement in the county. However, he said, increased calls for service and more violent crime in the past decade has made expansions to the department's traffic unit a secondary priority. "Our most important job is to investigate criminal cases," he said. According to Nugent, the department received 54,176 calls for service in 1994, compared to 85,129 in 2001. The 14-person unit dedicated to traffic enforcement, Nugent said, has been called upon to spend more and more of its time assisting with these calls. Also, he said, the department has chosen to concentrate on arresting drunken drivers, calling them "the greatest threat" to safe roads. Numbers provided by Nugent show that the department has been successful. In 1993, 101 drunk driving arrests were made, and 505 drunk drivers were apprehended in 2002. "We do a lot more than just traffic," Nugent said. Nugent said that as a result of lobbying in Tallahassee, he was able to secure seven additional Florida Highway Patrol officers for county roads in 2003. With this new resource in place, Nugent said, the county's approach to traffic enforcement would be evaluated at the end of the year. -- Will Van Sant covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com .
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
