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Sheriff's strategy backfires

Defending his budget, he compares his office to a Third World country. That doesn't go over with commissioners.

By DAVID DeCAMP
Published September 20, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - Justifying his request for a 19 percent budget increase, Pasco County Sheriff Bob White on Tuesday compared his department to a Third World country. And when county commissioners seemed unimpressed with that argument and others, he questioned their commitment to public safety.

Commissioner Ted Schrader bristled at that suggestion. Leaning forward in his chair, Schrader pointed out that for five years, the sheriff had gotten almost every item on his budgetary wish list, including 49 new jobs last year.

"I've been low-balling you the last few years," replied White, whose budget has increased 35 percent since 2002 and now takes up more than half of the county's general operating budget.

"I simply cannot do more patrols if you're going to cut" his proposal, White insisted.

But by the end of Tuesday's session, commissioners had ripped some big chunks from White's request for an $88.7 million budget next year.

* * *

White opened his remarks to commissioners with a request.

"I want you to think of yourselves as the United Nations, and I want you to think of the sheriff's office as a developing nation," he said to uneasy smiles among commissioners. "And if you look at it that way, I think we'll do just fine with money."

White offered to cut $900,000 in proposed spending. But, he said: "I cannot in good conscientious recommend further cuts."

The commissioners had no qualms.

The first big cut struck 40 new administrative vehicles costing $600,000. Detectives, civil deputies and school resource officers use them, as do department administrators. White wanted new vehicles rather than giving using former patrol cars with 100,000 to 120,000 miles on them.

"They're not grocery getters," White said of the administrative employees. "They're out there doing real police work."

White will get 112 new patrol cars next year, paid for by the Penny for Pasco sales tax. The county staff said the sheriff could pick 40 of the replaced cars, remove patrol equipment and repaint them, and turn them into administrative cars. Just as often has been done.

White disagreed. "Putrid" things - acts he would not name - happen in the back seats of police cars. Administrative cars end up with a "bad" paint job and have a year or less of life left, he said. He questioned the value of spending $600 to $1,000 at Maaco for a new finish, plus rehab costs for such a short service life.

When detectives arrive at crime scenes in older cars, White said, "it doesn't exactly give a lot of confidence in the community."

The commissioners did not budge. The nonpatrol cars were axed, and Commissioner Ann Hildebrand suggested other body shops might paint the cars for less money.

The biggest cut came next: White's request for 98 new jobs, including 25 patrol deputies. In a year when commissioners want to trim property taxes by $6.1 million, they had made it clear the sheriff wasn't going to get all the positions he wanted.

"What I'm getting at," Commissioner Pat Mulieri said, "is 98 jobs in one year..."

"Is going to be tough to swallow," shot in Schrader.

Commissioners told White he would get 45 new jobs - 10 more than Schrader wanted - and $2.1 million to pay for them next year. He gets to choose the new positions.

At the end, White lost more than $3 million of his proposed spending, a quarter of what he had asked for. His budget would still rise by $9 million, but at least four times he disagreed with cuts made by commissioners.

Disappointed, he told the commissioners he wished they had bought into the idea of them as the U.N. and his agency as a developing country.

Afterward, Hildebrand said the county has budget pressures that prevent giving White everything he wanted. The economy appears to be softening, and road costs have rocketed.

"I don't believe," she said with a chuckle, "that we're a developing, Third World country by any standard."

David DeCamp covers Pasco County government for the Times. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6232 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6232. His e-mail address is ddecamp@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 19, 2006, 23:22:11]