Reply to "Sheriff Budget Cut"

Reply to "Sheriff's Budget Cut"
May 7, 2002
R02-93

Spokesperson: Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky

The Los Angeles Sheriff's total budget has grown over the last four years from $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion; a 28 percent increase. Yet in the last two years, the Sheriff has overspent his budget by tens of millions of dollars, each year asking the Board of Supervisors to make up the difference.

Apparently, that's still not enough. The Sheriff has now asked the Supervisors to give him another $100 million, saying his department is under funded. The board is right to reject this demand. The problem with the Sheriff's budget is not under-funding, but over- spending. At a time when other County departments are facing major cuts and potential layoffs, the Sheriff is seeking to grow his budget for projects that are not critical to his core mission.

In his budget of $1.6 billion, the Sheriff can make cuts without releasing prisoners early or otherwise compromising public safety. Here are just a few ideas for cuts: Sell the eight passenger airplane that was purchased earlier this year to transport the Sheriff and his staff; cut back on overtime expenses which have doubled in four years; or control runaway workers' compensation costs that, by the Sheriff's own estimates, have ballooned nearly 25 percent during the past year alone!

There is no crisis in the Sheriff's budget that prudent and intelligent fiscal management can't solve. This is no time for political gamesmanship; it's a time for teamwork in the entire county family to help weather a challenging, recessionary economic storm. Threatening to hold public safety hostage for any reason is a dangerous game, and it's just not responsible.