Lee commissioners ask departments to trim budgets

Lee County's constitutional officers and department heads made their best pitch to commissioners today to support full funding of their proposed budgets for next year.

Commissioners, however, pushed their biggest spenders, such as the sheriff's office, to go back to the cutting board.

County manager Don Stilwell had asked all areas of the county to keep their proposed 2006-2007 budgets within a 12 percent increase.

Even though the county is in a period of unprecedented growth and expects an estimated 37.6 percent increase in taxable property values for 2006-07, Stilwell said he is trying to keep the budget from growing unchecked so that homeowners can get some property tax relief.

However, many of the county's elected leaders have more to cut to meet commissioner's expectations, said commissioner John Albion.

"I want our constitutionals to realize you can't keep living on 15 percent increases," Albion said. "It's going to run out. This is a great time to look at ... when these increases in some agencies are going to slow down."

The Lee County Sheriff's Office proposed a budget increase of 15.1 percent compared to last year. Most of the money would be used to staff a new jail that is expected to open in 2009, said chief deputy Charlie Ferrante. In all, the sheriff will need another 71 positions to keep up with growth, 40 of which will be in the corrections department.

The positions are important to ensure that the growing county remains a safe place to live, Ferrante said. The sheriff's office cut as much as it could from its budget, he said.

"Law enforcement is a different animal," Ferrante said. "A fair fight is one on one. A winnable fight is two on one."