Proposal would eliminate 100 jail beds, 17 deputies
After a year of protecting cops and courts from heavy cuts, Clark County’s budget knife is about to dig into the flesh of local government: law enforcement.
Sheriff Garry Lucas’ office last week sent county commissioners a budget proposal that would close 100 jail beds and eliminate 17 of Lucas’ 152 sworn deputy positions.
The effect on response times for non-emergency calls would be “rather dramatic,” Undersheriff Joe Dunegan said.
Commissioner Marc Boldt agreed.
“People are all going to see a reduction in service,” Boldt said this week. “The sheriff is no different, even though he’s taking probably the brunt of the impact this time.”
Lucas’ Nov. 9 proposal, the first shot in what will become a back-and-forth between elected officials over the next month, adds weight to a planned announcement this morning of commissioners’ own proposed cuts.
Cops, courts cost more
Lucas’ proposed cuts come in response to a request from commissioners to prepare a budget with cuts of $3.3 million, or 7 percent.
Other elected officials faced similar requests, and each delivered lists of cuts they said would threaten their services.
But because cops and courts account for about 70 percent of the county’s general fund, by far the biggest impact will be on the sheriff’s office.
“Not everybody’s case is going to get the full attention it deserves,” said Commander Mike Cooke, who supervises street deputies for the office. “Law enforcement is one of those services that you don’t really miss unless you’re the one that’s calling 911 because it’s your emergency. And then all of a sudden, it’s the most important service the county can possibly provide.”
Cooke said the cuts would mean more nights when, for example, as few as three deputies are patrolling the west half of the county.
If the jail’s population goes above 656 — on Tuesday, the population was 659 — detainees will be released early, or not booked for minor crimes.
Do voters want cuts?
The county cannot raise taxes because Washington voters have approved caps on the main sources of county revenue.
But Cooke said taxpayers wouldn’t support such cuts if they had a choice.
“I think people are willing to do without other services as long as they know that there are still deputies on the street that can respond whenever they need help,” he said.
Boldt, the county commissioner, said no other services are left to cut.
“It would be nice to cut the treasurer’s office or the auditor’s office or even IT and things like that,” Boldt said. “But we’ve cut them so much, down to bare bones. Now if we start cutting, it’s going to effect how the sheriff runs. And also it’ll affect how we collect taxes to get out of this in the future.”
Doug Lasher, the county treasurer, said further cuts to his staff would mean the county would generate less revenue.
Greg Kimsey, the count auditor, suggested in his own memo that he might eliminate performance audits, designed to guarantee the county is using its money wisely.
In 2008, Clark County’s sheriff’s office had the third-smallest staff in the state, relative to its population served.
This round of cuts could make it the second-smallest, after only Thurston County.
Scenarios for courts
County courts were also asked to float scenarios for substantial cuts.
n $487,020 from Juvenile Justice: enough to cut nine positions, shorten sentences, reduce therapy referrals and cap admissions to the juvenile justice facility.
n $337,425 from corrections: enough to eliminate three work crew chiefs, which would increase the size of work crews and the number of crews per day, among other cuts.
n $308,087 from Superior Court: enough to return jurors to the old 2-week jury duty system, rather than one-day, one-trial; cut court-appointed special advocates for crime victims; and “nearly” eliminate services for divorce and paternity cases, among other cuts.
n $232,930 from the county clerk, which keeps court records: enough to end file checkouts for attorneys, slow delivery of restraining orders and arrest warrants, and sometimes leave documents out of court files during hearings, among other cuts.
Superior Court Judge Barbara Johnson said the judges agreed to preserve the county’s array of therapeutic courts, which send selected offenders into intensive treatment instead of jail.
“A number of studies have shown that they’re effective at reducing recidivism and saving tax dollars,” she said.
Boldt said Wednesday that of all the cuts the county is making now, the first to be restored once tax payments rebound will be law enforcement, courts and road maintenance.
Boldt said he doesn’t expect the county ever to regain the money to restore other services to where they were in 2007.
“The way you look at our tax structure, so much of our budget is based on new construction,” Boldt said. “I don’t look for residential housing to be that strong again.”
Michael Andersen: 360-735-4508 or michael.andersen@columbian.com.
