Sheriff asking for $14 million bump

Lee County Sheriff’ Mike Scott is seeking an additional $14 million to run his department over the next year.

The Sheriff’s Office turned over its proposed budget for fiscal year 2006-07 to county commissioners Thursday. The budget calls for a 13.5 percent increase over the current year’s operating costs.

The request is $142.4 million, up from the $128 million the office operated with this year. About $107 million would go to pay salaries of the 1,407 members of the Sheriff’s Office, said Bill Bergquist, the Sheriff’s Office’s budget director.

The 13 percent increase is in line with what the county expects for increases in operating costs among various departments, said Assistant County Manager Pete Winton. On Wednesday, Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson announced Lee County’s tax base had increased to $88 billion, up from $64 billion last year.

Among the increases proposed by Sheriff’s Office are 71 new positions, 40 of which would be corrections officers. Another 13 deputies are requested to be split up in various special operations, including a gang task force, Bergquist said.

In addition to personnel costs, the sheriff is seeking about $7 million in capital costs, including $2.7 million to replace computers and radios and $3.5 million to replace vehicles.

The vehicle cost is so high because the office is seeking 84 squad cars, Bergquist said. Nearly half of the vehicles will go to deputies hired this fiscal year, when they pass their one-year probationary period, Bergquist said.

“We definitely think this is all reasonable,” Bergquist said of the budget proposal.

Up next is a budget workshop with county commissioners on June 21, followed by a series of budget hearings before the final budget is approved in September. The county’s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

Winton met with Sheriff’s Office’s representatives twice in May to hammer out details on the budget and said he thinks the process went smoothly. The budget is likely to cause fewer problems than last year, when the Sheriff’s Office proposed a $128 million budget.

The county eventually agreed to a $124 million budget. The budget eventually grew to close to $128 million during the year, most of it through additional personnel costs.

Last year was Scott’s first year proposing a budget. Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall, a liaison with the Sheriff’s Office, said she thinks the extra year’s experience and the work that’s already gone into preparing this year’s budget will help the process go more smoothly this time around.

“I’m happy to see it’s not in the 20 percent increase area,” Hall said. “We’re working much better, with a better dialogue.”