Typical scare tactics...Sheriff: Cuts would cost 44 deputies

http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2009/may/26/sheriff-cuts-would-cost-44-deputies/news/

Deputies patrolling from the sky — gone.

Deputies patrolling on the water — gone.

Deputies securing the courthouse — gone.

In all, there would be 44 deputies laid off if Sheriff Richard Nugent's proposed cuts were put into immediate effect. He offered the plan Tuesday to county commissioners to demonstrate the effects of a requested $4.2 million cut to his budget.

In addition to specialized policing units, such as aviation and marine, the cuts would also eliminate the 17 sworn deputies in the traffic unit and two vice detectives from the payroll.


Don't fall for his scare tactics. He's gotten good at them.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article1004649.ece#comments
Click link to read the entire story.


BROOKSVILLE — Sheriff Richard Nugent painted a stark picture Tuesday as he described what his operation would look like if he is forced to cut $4.2 million from next year's budget.

Gone would be the traffic, marine and aviation units. Substations would be shuttered. Community service officers, drug and gang prevention efforts would disappear.

In total, 53 sworn deputies, eight non-sworn and 13 civilian positions would be cut from his $33 million budget.

Nugent offered a way out of this public safety service free-fall.

Establish a separate taxing unit to pay for his budget. It would be broken out from the overall county tax rate so property owners could see how much they were paying for law enforcement.

He even threw in a political incentive for the board. A separate unit would mean Nugent would have to take the heat from voters if a tax increase were needed, he argued.

Thanks, but no thanks, the commissioners said.

Scare tactics??? What are you, an idiot?! (Rhetorical question). He is trying to do whatever he can to save your job knucklehead. Where do you think our budget can sustain a 4.2 million dollar cut, when almost 90% of the budgeted dollars are for SALARIES (personnel costs)? Hate to break the news to you, but the only way to cut that much money is by cutting positions - LOTS of positions. You should be angry at the County Commission and the County Administrator for not stepping up to the plate to fund law enforcement, and for asking the Sheriff to basically gut his budget.

Scare tactics??? What are you, an idiot?! (Rhetorical question). He is trying to do whatever he can to save your job knucklehead. Where do you think our budget can sustain a 4.2 million dollar cut, when almost 90% of the budgeted dollars are for SALARIES (personnel costs)? Hate to break the news to you, but the only way to cut that much money is by cutting positions - LOTS of positions. You should be angry at the County Commission and the County Administrator for not stepping up to the plate to fund law enforcement, and for asking the Sheriff to basically gut his budget.

He can start by getting rid of all the people who are having affairs on the clock. He can also get rid of some of the other asswipes we work with. We have shot ourselves in the foot and he's ruined this department. Yes scare tactics. He does it every time he wants money to keep those high paid on staff so that they don't spill the beans about what is really going on. Why do you think he doesn't fire some that have rightfully deserved it?

http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2009/may/29/ha-sheriff-must-hack-bloated-budget-like-every-oth/news/


The issue: Budget cuts at the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

Our opinion: In this economy, scare tactics and gravy-train expenditures won't fly any longer.

Let the scare tactics begin.

After all, budget season is opening in Hernando County, and it's every department for itself.

Sheriff Richard Nugent made that perfectly clear - and wrongly so - during Tuesday's county commission meeting when he told commissioners that if his department takes a $4.2 million budget cut, 44 deputies will lose their jobs.

Translation: The public should fear being at the mercy of criminals.

Which, of course, is nonsense.

We don't believe for a second that 44 deputies would lose their jobs if the sheriff's budget was reduced by $4.2 million. We'd be willing to bet that all sorts of other cuts and strategic management actions like furloughs, reduced hours, salary freezes and pay cuts would be taken before anyone wearing a badge is actually laid off.

The sheriff is going to be the first one to blink on this one.

We're relieved county commissioners didn't blink in allowing Nugent to separate the sheriff's office from the county's general fund by creating a separate taxing unit on property taxpayers.

Translation: Big tax hike.

Hernando Countians can't afford a mil levy increase and simply won't stand for one in these troubling economic times. Politicians seeking re-election can bet their jobs on it.

Even though Nugent would like everyone to believe his department should be immune from cuts to ensure public safety, the sheriff's office, perhaps more than any other in county government, could use a good financial shake-down.

Keeping it part of the county's general fund budget will ensure that commissioners have a say in the S.O.'s budget, and that's the way it should be. It provides another level of accountability and holds six elected officials to answer to the taxpayers.

For far too long, the S.O. has operated with immunity from budget cuts and oversight of its massive spending increases. Even though no new deputies have been added since the 2005-06 fiscal year, Nugent's budget has ballooned. Since the 2004-05 fiscal year, when the S.O.'s budget hit $26.9 million, it's grown nearly $6 million, to $32.7 million, this fiscal year.

That's a whopping 22.5 percent increase in four years!

With no new deputies on the street in the past three years, the sheriff's budget has climbed nearly $1.2 million.

Interestingly enough, in the past four budget years, salaries and wages have increased more than $4.2 million, from $14.6 million in 2005-06 to $18.8 million this year - a massive 29 percent!

Retirement contributions also have skyrocketed more than $1 million, from about $2.4 million in 2005-06 to more than $3.4 million in 2008-09. Overall operating expenditures have also ballooned 10.6 percent.

This shows us that the bureaucracy has grown while the number of those sworn to protect and serve has been static. If Nugent put the same number of deputies on the street in 2006-07 as he has today, then there's no doubt some deep cuts can be made.

It's belt-tightening time and this will be a good test for our sitting county commissioners to streamline a bloated county government that includes the sheriff's office.

If that means fewer deputies patrolling from the sky, then so be it. If that means fewer deputies patrolling on the water, then so be it. If that means fewer deputies securing the courthouse, then so be it. If that means fewer deputies on the streets, then so be it.

We're confident deputies will be the last, not first, cuts.

Still, if that means no DARE program or Care Line or Citizens Academy or Crime Watch, the sheriff should cut them.

Hernando Countians obviously can't afford the level of law enforcement support that Nugent stockpiled in the boom years, when tax dollars were flowing like honey to the S.O. and big raises and promotions were the order of the day.

Even though Nugent's mission is different from the rest of county government, we disagree that expense cuts can't be made. It makes perfect sense to consolidate similar functions of the sheriff's department, especially information technology and human resources. Others should be sought.

The control that Nugent wants to keep over the S.O. budget seems arrogant and may soon erode many of the positive changes he has accomplished while sheriff.

The S.O. is a professional organization that has done an admirable job fighting crime and ensuring the safety of Hernando Countians. But these are tough times. Every business and household has been affected. The sheriff's office must live in the reality of this economy with the rest of Hernando County and make the necessary financial cuts while continuing to maintain the public's safety.

No one ever said it would be easy.

The sheriff and other county officials need to remember: In this protracted recession, it's only going to get more difficult. Property taxes are based on sales a year in arrears, with tax revenues for 2009-10 based on 2008 sales. This year's property values have dropped significantly more and will even more drastically affect 2010-11 budgets.

Local governments have only seen the ugly head of this economic demon revealed so far.

Scare tactics??? What are you, an idiot?! (Rhetorical question). He is trying to do whatever he can to save your job knucklehead. Where do you think our budget can sustain a 4.2 million dollar cut, when almost 90% of the budgeted dollars are for SALARIES (personnel costs)? Hate to break the news to you, but the only way to cut that much money is by cutting positions - LOTS of positions. You should be angry at the County Commission and the County Administrator for not stepping up to the plate to fund law enforcement, and for asking the Sheriff to basically gut his budget.

I think you are and so does the rest of the community. Now who is the knucklehead?

Yes that poster is a knucklehead and one of Nugents fairhaired boys....Yes he needs to make cuts.Cut the fat.We have enough brass sitting over this and that.Get rid of majors and just leave captains...or just keep one captain....they drink enough coffee and some do enough homework on the clock at our expense.Maybe I should have my neghbor start a citizen watchdog group over our office so our office and have an audit by the taxpayers.

Yes that poster is a knucklehead and one of Nugents fairhaired boys....Yes he needs to make cuts.Cut the fat.We have enough brass sitting over this and that.Get rid of majors and just leave captains...or just keep one captain....they drink enough coffee and some do enough homework on the clock at our expense.Maybe I should have my neghbor start a citizen watchdog group over our office so our office and have an audit by the taxpayers.

while their retirement funds get added to for not doing a thing for the money they make

This shows us that the bureaucracy has grown while the number of those sworn to protect and serve has been static. If Nugent put the same number of deputies on the street in 2006-07 as he has today, then there's no doubt some deep cuts can be made.


YES AND THAT DOESN'T MEAN TAKING DEPUTIES JOBS EITHER. MAKE THOSE WE WORK WITH ACTUALLY WORK INSTEAD OF HAVING AFFAIRS ON THE TAXPAYERS DIME AND THE OTHER SHENANIGANS THAT GO ON. THERE IS ALOT OF WASTE AND THIS CAN NOT BE DENIED. I NEED MY JOB AND NUGENT DOESN'T CARE. IF HE NEEDS TO CUT JOBS HE NEEDS TO CUT THOSE WHO HAVE CAUSED TROUBLE BUT HAVE KEPT THEIR JOBS WHILE MAKING US ALL LOOK BAD. IT'S DISHEARTENING TO SEE WHAT THE RESIDENTS OF THIS COUNTY THINK OF US. I ALMOST FEEL THAT ALL THESE YEARS ARE WASTED WORKING HERE. GLAD I HAVE ANOTHER PROFESSION TO FALL BACK ON AND BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY I'M BUILDING THAT ONE UP NOW SO I CAN HAVE SOME SORT OF JOB SECURITY INSTEAD OF BRINGING THE STRESS HOME WITH ME AFTER EACH SHIFT I WORK. MY FAMILY IS SUFFERING AND SO AM I.

Wow, you guys are really clueless. I can't believe you buy into a newspaper article as fact. The bloated salaries you are carrying on about - those went to us, the deputies - not the administration. Look at the public record - the command staff got less than a 1% raise over the last two years combined. The excess salary hike that the newspaper wants him to cut is our pay. You guys really know how to shoot yourselves in the foot. Go ahead and keep complaining - because it's our stupid contract that will cause layoffs. The sheriff doesn't get to hand pick who gets laid off, it's last in - first out according to our contract. So, seniority rules, no matter how bad a particular deputy might be. Better hope you have been here longer than 53 other deputies...