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http://highlandstoday.com/hi/local-n...dget-20150721/

SEBRING — Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton has cut her initial budget request for the 2015-2016 budget year by more than $600,000, but some Highlands County commissioners say it remains to be seen whether that’s enough.

In response to the commission’s concerns about an overall shortfall in revenue to meet the proposed county budget, Benton reduced the sheriff’s office’s budget request from $24.4 million to $23.7 million. Her budget for this fiscal year is $23.2 million.

She had been asking for a 4.8 percent increase, but reduced that to 2.04 percent.

Benton said her original budget was based on the cost to run the sheriff’s office if all positions were filled. She said she wanted to present commissioners and the public with a budget that reflected the real costs of running the sheriff’s office.

The revised budget request makes assumptions,as has been the case in the past, that all positions won’t be filled throughout the budget year.

Benton said considering that Highlands County has a $3 million reserve, her budget cut represents a significant chunk of the remaining amount needed to eliminate the shortfall in revenues verses the proposed budget.

“We certainly did our share in helping to reduce the budget,” Benton said.

However, County Commissioner Jack Richie believes the sheriff can reduce her budget even more.

“I would really like to see her do that,” he said. He said he feels Highlands County has done a lot in putting resources into law enforcement, including paying for new equipment and supporting plans for a new sheriff’s office building.

Commissioner Don Elwell said he is “encouraged by her proactively beginning to trim her budget. I feel that the $645,000 reduction from the initial $1.1 million requested budget increase is a very good start indeed.”

Richie and Commissioner James Brooks said the commissioners can’t cut line items within the sheriff’s office. Only the sheriff can do that, they said.

“We appreciate her cooperation,” Brooks said. It’s possible, though, the commission may ask Benton to make further cuts, he added.

With the cuts, Benton said, the sheriff’s office has a “very lean budget.”

The sheriff’s office’s budget is broken down as follows: 87 percent for salaries and wages and 13 percent for operations, Benton said. She believes the sheriff’s office does a good job keeping operational costs low.

“It’s clear by the numbers our greatest resource is our members,” she said.

One of the largest cuts in the original budget request was to a category called special pay — other, which includes holiday and vacation pay. Benton reduced that from $539,549 to $54,078. She said she hopes the sheriff’s office can make that up within its budget by not having all the positions filled.

Currently, she said, they’re having trouble finding qualified applicants, a situation affecting other sheriff’s offices, as well.

Benton also said she cut her request by half to $10,000 for travel costs, with the assumption gas will remain at $3 per gallon or lower.

She also reduced education and training from $30,000 to $10,000.

In a letter to the commissioners, she noted, she eliminated her capital budget and hopes she can find other sources of revenue.

Benton noted that the original budget submitted to her by staff was $25.7 million.

jmeisel@highlandstoday.com

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The Sheriff's Office can't find quality candidates because of Pay and Moral.
WHAT A JOKE!