SOUTH CNTY JAIL CLOSING

SARASOTA COUNTY -- The South County jail is set to close in October, among the most dramatic local budget cuts resulting from statewide property tax reform. Most homeowners will save more than $100 on their annual tax bills thanks to the tax reform.

The sheriff proposed the cut as part of an $85.5 million budget on Tuesday after originally asking for more than $90 million. The county commissioners agreed Tuesday with Sheriff Bill Balkwill's proposal to close the jail, a move that is expected to save about $760,000.

But the $85.5 million budget, which also includes cuts to vehicles and travel and the elimination of 32 open positions, appears to be as low as Balkwill will go.

He made that clear last month when he told county commissioners he would turn to the governor if they call for deeper cuts.

"When you start cutting on vehicles, when you start cutting on how much we can give people raises, people start to say 'Why work here when I can make more money in Hillsborough County?'" he said.

The proposed budget cut comes at a time when the county's criminal justice leaders are looking for ways to expand into the growing South County communities with courtrooms, support for drug abuse programs and a jail.

One proposal calls for a new $151 million judicial complex, with a jail with several hundred beds, courtrooms and a medical examiner's office.

Balkwill said Tuesday that the county should consider putting the new facility in mid-county to offset the jail closing.

The jail closing will come despite the county's jail crowding problem, Balkwill said. County Commissioner Paul Mercier called the jail closing "10 steps backward." The County Commission will make the final decision when it sets the budget in late December.

Some law enforcement officials, including North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis, said the move will mean fewer police officers on patrol in South County. Officers there will now have to spend three to four hours -- half their shift -- driving to the Sarasota jail and waiting in line to book prisoners, Lewis said.

During that time they are not on patrol in the city, and "they're not doing the citizens of North Port any good," Lewis said.

The North Port police booked more than 1,000 people into the South County jail last year, at about 45 minutes for each trip to Venice, said Lewis.

Closing the South County jail will move about 4,400 arrests a year to the North County jail, Lewis said.

If multiple officers make arrests at the same time and are out of the city, sergeants might be put in the position of deciding whether an arrest is worth having another officer gone, he said.

Venice police are used to having the booking facility at their station, and there is a steady stream of arrests taken there from the Florida Highway Patrol and other state agencies as well, Venice police Chief Julie Williams said.

SARASOTA COUNTY -- The county commissioners changed their minds Thursday about plans to close the South County jail in October, asking Sheriff Bill Balkwill to find another way to cut his budget.

Commissioners said since they agreed to the plan Tuesday, they got more information about how the move would mean fewer officers on patrol in South County.

Balkwill said closing the jail would save about $760,000, among the most dramatic local budget cuts resulting from statewide property tax reform.

North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis said about 4,400 arrests are made a year in South County, and each one would mean an officer spending up to half of a shift driving to the Sarasota jail and waiting in line to book prisoners.

"The feeling that we're going to have to have South County run all their arrests up to North County seems to be a huge use of manpower," Commissioner Nora Patterson said Thursday, in another budget meeting.

At that meeting, the commissioners unanimously voted to ask Balkwill to keep the jail open. The commission also voted to contact North Port and Venice officials about the possibility of sharing the cost.

If those cities do not help fund the jail, Balkwill "needs to find the additional funds, (and) he can do that any way he wants," Patterson said.

The South County jail, located at the Venice Police Department, holds people who have been arrested for up to eight hours before the sheriff transports the prisoners by van to the main jail in Sarasota.

Balkwill did not comment on the letter he received Thursday from the county commission.

The sheriff will go over the budget numbers again and prepare a response, which should be ready today, said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Chuck Lesaltato.

Balkwill had been considering closing the South County jail even before the budget talks, when the city of Venice asked him to start paying the facility's maintenance costs, said Commissioner Shannon Staub.

Staub, who is considering running for sheriff in 2008, said all the commissioners nodded their heads when she asked before the Thursday meeting if the jail issue should come up again.

"This has been a totally different budget session," Staub said. "We've never had to sit there and do nothing but cut. It was a whole situation that was new to us."

Several commissioners said comments from North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis influenced their decision.

In an e-mail to a commissioner, Lewis said that North Port makes 1,000 arrests a year.

Closing the holding cell would also affect sheriff's deputies who work in South County, who would have to bring about 2,500 South County arrests the same distance, Lewis said.

"It is my opinion that besides being a very poor decision, it is unfair to all South County residents," Lewis wrote.

"Closing down the facility in the fastest growing part of the county just makes no sense to me."

After Thursday's vote, Lewis -- Balkwill's former second-in-command at the Sheriff's Office -- said the sheriff has a lot of tough budget decisions to make.

"I hope he will reconsider and work with the county and work with everybody to see if we can't keep it open," Lewis said.

The proposed budget cut comes at a time when the county's criminal justice leaders are looking for ways to expand into the growing South County communities.

That includes a $151 million proposal that calls for a jail with several hundred beds, courtrooms and a medical examiner's office.

the sheriff is the only one that can make that choice :shock: i think we are doomed :cry:

Sheriff Roscoe "P" Coltrain should consider cutting some actual waste from his agency rather than this no brainer. :roll:

Sheriff Roscoe "P" Coltrain should consider cutting some actual waste from his agency rather than this no brainer. :roll:

While I agree we SSO do have a lot of fat that needs to be trimmed but seriously why should youre city PD be any different than any other PD. You have a sally port,holding cells. Heres an idea buy a van and transport them north once a shift. Your not required to be corrections certified for holding which is no different than Venice PD/SO holding site.

We do need a major overhaul at the top but hey at least hes starting somehwere logical. Maybe one day the county will build a real jail in Laurel or something and that be a middle point but until then sorry guys if its my job over some holding cell. We should not have to accomodate you its not our problem how you get your prisoners to the jail. SPD has a prisoner transport maybe NP should also