News

Budget fight ends in draw

The sheriff and county leaders will meet again this week to hammer out a spending plan.

By DAVID DECAMP, Times Staff Writer
Published August 28, 2007

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ADVERTISEMENT [Brendan Fitterer | Times] Sheriff Bob White listens during budget negotiations with the County Commission on Monday. They will meet again Thursday.

NEW PORT RICHEY - What happened when Sheriff Bob White and top county officials spent 51/2 hours looking to cut spending in next year's budget?

Nothing.

The standoff intensified Monday over White's bid for a bigger budget in a year of forced cutbacks. It went a lot like a meeting two weeks ago, only with more PowerPoint slides.

White again asked for a big increase, although he wanted just $8-million more instead of the $11.2-million he originally requested.

County budget officials hammered at his logic, showing 27 departments that made cuts when the sheriff has not.

County commissioners again told White to cut back, but without any consensus as to how.

With hopes and focus dimming, the sides finally agreed on one thing: They set up another meeting, this time for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

White promised to bring serious spending cuts to that meeting.

"We're going to cut, and I don't expect our meeting to be long," White told the board.

Then he left the meeting room and declined to set a spending limit - "I can't guess," he said - when asked by the Pasco Times.

"We're going to look under every rock, every twig," White said. "We're going to do our very best to come back with something that is livable by the board."

However, the disagreements Monday were so bad that sheriff's officials and county staffers argued about how much they had argued. Commissioners finally urged them to meet together.

"We have attempted to do that, just in all fairness to us," said sheriff's Col. Al Nienhuis.

"When?" budget director Mike Nurrenbrock and County Administrator John Gallagher shot back in unison.

"Well, Mr. Gallagher, when I can ever get an appointment with you, that would be great," White said, prompting more squabbles until Commissioner Ann Hildebrand interrupted.

"Okay, let's chill out," she said.

Two weeks ago, commissioners faced down the popular sheriff, telling White to reduce his proposed budget to have no increase over the $83.5-million he received for this year.

When he came back Monday with an $8-million increase, he also brought a presentation outlining his agency's questions over the county's budget practices.

That prompted Nurrenbrock's own big-screen presentation, rebutting the sheriff's points. Then he questioned why they even spent two hours on minute budget details instead of working out these issues weeks ago. Only a parking lot separates their offices.

"We've wasted two weeks, and we're no further along," Nurrenbrock said.

Asked later if Nurrenbrock had a point, White said, "No - no."

Because of state-mandated property tax cuts, the commission had to cut $15.8-million to balance next year's budget, which goes into effect Oct. 1.

After Monday's meeting, the shortfall stands at about $12.25-million because estimated insurance costs decreased and smaller cuts from other departments have been approved, Nurrenbrock said.

The Sheriff's Office, which spends about 55 percent of property taxes collected by the county government, pressed for a budget increase, claiming service to the public would be threatened without more money.

Other county departments have cut costs so that, altogether, they will spend about $4.8-million less in property taxes next year, Nurrenbrock said. Not White.

But the commission on Monday reached no agreement on how much White should cut.

Hildebrand and Commissioner Jack Mariano pushed to have no increase at all. Commissioner Ted Schrader suggested adding $3-million to help pay for raises, but no more funding for 109 new positions White requested.

Commissioner Pat Mulieri expressed interest in setting aside up to $5.8-million to fully pay for raises and perhaps some new jobs. Commissioner Michael Cox proposed giving the sheriff $3-million more next year and letting White decide how to spend it.

The result?

Nothing.

David DeCamp can be reached at ddecamp@sptimes.com or 727 869-6232.

[Last modified August 28, 2007, 07:42:38]

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