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Sheriff insists $32.9M budget can't be cut

Richard Nugent says a zero percent increase would "decimate'' county law enforcement.

By CHANDRA BROADWATER
Published June 2, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - With public pressure building to cut property taxes, the County Commission asked officeholders to hold the line on spending in their proposed budgets for the coming year.

Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent replied that, "in good faith," he could not do that. Instead, on Friday, he proposed a $32.9-million budget that reflects a 6.7 percent increase in spending.

The budget maintains the same staffing levels that the department has had for the past two budget cycles, Nugent points out. It also contains full-year costs for county Fire Rescue dispatching and the increased costs of all utilities for the Emergency Operations Center.

"This budget request is submitted in a spirit of cooperation with the Board," Nugent wrote in a letter to commissioners and submitted with his proposal. "But I could not in good faith submit to you a budget with a zero percentage increase as dictated by your staff."

County commissioners are scheduled to hold a workshop Tuesday on the various tax reform proposals floating around in Tallahassee and their possible impacts on the county budget. The sheriff's proposed budget likely will be a big part of that discussion.

Nugent said that not increasing his budget next year would have "decimated" the department's ability to provide law enforcement in a growing community, and would have forced him to lay off deputies and employees.

Even with the request he submitted Friday, Nugent said he is concerned the department is falling behind the law enforcement demands of a growing community.

At a budget workshop last month, Nugent warned commissioners that if his agency receives the same amount of money as it did last year, he would have to lay off 35 deputies, plus 35 part-time staff.

That would means closing neighborhood substations, getting rid of school resource officers and crossing guards, and cutting back on community policing.

While he said that he didn't ask for new deputies last year or this year, other inevitable costs have increased. Deputies earn raises and promotions. The cost of health insurance has increased, as has the price of gasoline.

Last June, Nugent asked for a 6 percent budget increase. The $1.6-million increase went toward salary adjustments, retirement benefits, workers' compensation and health insurance.

The 2006-07 $30-million budget went up from $27.3-million for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

Legislators have scheduled a 10-day special session beginning June 12 to focus on tax reform. Fear of just how deep cuts will go has local government officials worried around the state.

For some idea of what might happen in Hernando, County Administrator Gary Kuhl has used rough outlines of a plan proposed by Gov. Charlie Crist. It would mean nearly $18.9-million in cuts for the county.

But where those cuts would come from in a $120-million budget is unclear.

Kuhl estimated that fixed or "untouchable" county costs -- for reserves, repaying loans, matching grants, paying for state programs -- total $50.7-million.

In "touchable" spending, commissioners have $70.8-million, including $31-million to pay for departments directly under the county's control.

Kuhl estimated another $39.8-million -- based on the current budgets of constitutional officers with zero percent increases  -- would be needed to pay for operating the Sheriff's Office, supervisor of elections, clerk of courts, property appraiser and tax collector's offices.

Nugent's budget would eat up the lion's share of that amount, leaving roughly $7-million for the other offices.

How that would affect those operations was unclear.

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.

[Last modified June 1, 2007, 20:39:20]