Despite resident objections and numerous requests, it’s unlikely the Orange County Sheriff’s Office will receive the new positions it needs.
On Tuesday, Orange County Supervisors held a budget work session, followed by a public hearing on the proposed tax rates. During the work session, supervisors discussed the tax rates and recent work to make the real estate tax rate $0.47 per $100 of assessed value, which is the equalized rate. The county’s recent reassessment yielded a 31.23% increase in the valuation of real estate, from approximately $4.8 billion to $6.3 billion. By law, the tax rate must be equalized to within 1% of the previous revenue. The current tax rate, before equalization, is $0.61.
The budget was built, however, using a $0.48 rate, but advertised at $0.51 for flexibility. The proposed fire and EMS levy rate was advertised at $0.16, five cents over the equalized rate of $0.11. The current rate is $0.14. Supervisors have recently been able to lower the proposed levy to $0.15.
District 5 supervisor Bryan Nichol said a series of meetings were held with staff members to work through individual line items and evaluations were conducted to see where the fire and EMS levy could decrease from a five cent increase to just four cents. He said changes such as rebalancing shifts and the release of new staff members into the field can account for overtime reductions, while still increasing salaries to be competitive with neighboring jurisdictions.
County administrator Ted Vorhees said maintaining the budget will require very focused attention of tracking expenses and scheduling purchases.
“We will be able to deliver quality services under those constraints for the upcoming year if its the will of the board,” he said.
Nichols said the budget represents one of the toughest he’s worked on in 30 years, but its one that still supports education. The proposed budget includes $28.1 million for the schools which is comprised of operating, capital and debt service funding. It’s far less than the $35.8 million requested, but still $926,000 more than the current year.
District 4 supervisor Crystal Hale said she was initially concerned about the request made by the schools versus what was being funded. However, she said creativity and further discussions by the school committee has led to the school board and superintendent feeling better about the matter. She said the “elephant in the room” is still the lack of funding for the sheriff’s office.
During the previous budget public hearing, residents spoke in favor of funding eight patrol positions at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. None of the positions are currently included in the proposed budget. Sheriff Jason Smith has said the new positions are needed as the county continues to grow. He said the county continues to add new homes, businesses and people, causing cases and calls to increase leaving less time for being proactive with traffic enforcement.
“Not only do we not have enough staff to handle calls, but deputies have no backup and are responding to calls by themselves frequently,” Smith said. “We do not have enough deputies as things currently stand. We’ve been lucky thus far that something serious hasn’t happened. Whether we want to believe it or not, crime is coming and we need to be prepared.”
Major Michael LaCasse has said the positions represent needs, not wants.
“The concern I have is over the last three years, the board has approved nine positions for fire and rescue, two for communications and none for law enforcement,” LaCasse said. “I asked for two [positions] three years ago, four last year and eight this year.”
He said the increasing number of houses and residents increases the tolls on law enforcement officers and the chances of burnout.
“You can provide the best pay and bonuses, but unless we have people who can spend time with their families and have time off without working all the time, we’re going to lose people,” LaCasse said.
The estimate for the positions, including benefits, is $1.4 million. LaCasse said just four of those positions would cost approximately $710,000, just over the $666,000 a one-cent increase on the real estate tax yields.
“I propose if you give us the four positions with a one-cent tax increase, Jason [Smith] and I will find the extra money needed to [fund them] for the county,” he said. “This is something that needs to happen for the deputies that work for us. They need to feel supported.”
LaCasse reiterated the need for the new positions at Tuesday’s public hearing. He said other jurisdictions are proposing increases for their law enforcement. He said last year, he was told there would be some effort toward funding four new positions for the sheriff’s office this year, something he was able to communicate with staff.
“As of July 1 when other agencies start to get increases and I have no light at the end of the tunnel for what we’re doing for our folks, we stand to lose people,” LaCasse said.
Once again, he told supervisors it wasn’t a salary issue, but rather a burnout issue. He said the office is severely understaffed in its patrol division and the more work someone has, the more court they have to cover, the more training they have to do on their off days, the more they get burned out.
“The only way to alleviate that is with more positions,” he said.
A neighboring jurisdiction experiencing a lack of staff has stopped responding to shoplifting, hit and runs and panhandler calls, LaCasse said.
“I don’t want to get to that position,” he said.
LaCasse said he and Smith have looked at their budget and could likely fund enough of the four previously suggested positions to have them cost a half-cent on the real estate tax.
“Last time we had this [hearing], you heard people in the community willing to pay extra to have patrol deputies,” LaCasse said. “I beg you please give us some extra manpower so [we] avoid burnout.”
Hale said she appreciates the work the sheriff’s office does and that they “are not forgotten.” She said she appreciates LaCasse and Smith advocating for the department’s needs and it’s still at the top of the priority list.
Nichols said he was committed to helping the sheriff’s office serve the citizens.
The county’s proposed $158.5 million budget, of which $38.3 million is in the general fund, is 6.6% or $9.8 million more than the current year’s budget. It includes six new full-time and four new part-time employees. For county employees, the budget includes a 3% mid-point market wage adjustment and a 1.5% one-time bonus to constitutional offices and their staffs, offset somewhat by funds from the compensation board. Additional wage adjustments are included for public safety along with the continuation of public safety career step plans, both to improve retention. A 15% anticipated health insurance increase is funded.
Some selected rates and fees are also adjusted to cover program costs, including in parks and recreation, at the landfill and in the commissioner of revenue, treasurer and EMS budgets. The budget is balanced using an approximately $3.4 million appropriation in general fund balance. Bradley said the budget focuses the most on school and public safety funding. Approximately $9.1 million is included for capital improvement projects with nearly $5 million covered through new debt service including seven buses, one ambulance, eight cardiac monitors and landfill operations equipment to bring operations in-house. Just over $43 million in projects was requested. The funded capital improvement projects include $250,000 for the beginning of a potential water impoundment project.
The budget and corresponding tax rates are expected to be voted on May 13 at 5 p.m.
