Sheriff's budgets show 4-year $4.1M wage hike

http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2009/jun/01/sheriffs-budgets-show-4-year-41m-wage-hike/news/

In speaking with county commissioners on Tuesday, Sheriff Richard Nugent laid out a bleak picture of what would happen if a requested $4.2 million cut to his budget was fulfilled.

Namely, dozens of deputies and civilian employees would be laid off.

He also repeated something he's quick to point out when talks center on budgets. First, almost 90 percent of his budget is always personnel cost. Second, no new deputy positions have been added since the 2005-06 fiscal year.

At that point in Tuesday's meeting, Commissioner Jeff Stabins piped up and asked why then has Nugent's budget increased $5.7 million in four fiscal years.

Some simple math shows that his regular wages and salaries have increased $4.1 million in that same period — almost the amount needed to be cut from this upcoming budget.

Whats the big deal with this article. We got pay raises and ones that were well deserved to keep up with other counties. Its time this BOCC understands that we have a contract and I hope they give the money so that we can keep our raise which is indicated in our contract. I think thats what having a union contract is all about isnt it? Its not the Sheriffs fault for the budget shortfall its the BOCC which allowed all this growth and now doesnt want to support it like it should. They allowed all these gated communities which investors brought and now we are having to respond to them left and right for various calls but they want to cut us. Our units are asked to do more and more and now the county is gonna want us do it with less like possibly having to cut the air unit which provides safety for ground units. Guess of course until one of gets hurt then they will wake up. They are quickly turning our county into Pasco which is scary.

Whats the big deal with this article. We got pay raises and ones that were well deserved to keep up with other counties. Its time this BOCC understands that we have a contract and I hope they give the money so that we can keep our raise which is indicated in our contract. I think thats what having a union contract is all about isnt it? Its not the Sheriffs fault for the budget shortfall its the BOCC which allowed all this growth and now doesnt want to support it like it should. They allowed all these gated communities which investors brought and now we are having to respond to them left and right for various calls but they want to cut us. Our units are asked to do more and more and now the county is gonna want us do it with less like possibly having to cut the air unit which provides safety for ground units. Guess of course until one of gets hurt then they will wake up. They are quickly turning our county into Pasco which is scary.
Why do we need to keep up with other counties, when, as you say, this is turning into Pasco? Do you really think that people are going to jump ship and move to another agency? If they have no loyalty, then let them leave. Law enforcement is not about the money that is made, and if people go into it for that reason, that's part of the problem.
The growth? You mean past tense? There isn't much growth now, in fact people are leaving this county pretty quickly. There is nothing to offer here and people are tired of their tax dollars being spent foolishly.

I AGREE with 76 u r dead on.

Whats the big deal with this article. We got pay raises and ones that were well deserved to keep up with other counties. Its time this BOCC understands that we have a contract and I hope they give the money so that we can keep our raise which is indicated in our contract. I think thats what having a union contract is all about isnt it? Its not the Sheriffs fault for the budget shortfall its the BOCC which allowed all this growth and now doesnt want to support it like it should. They allowed all these gated communities which investors brought and now we are having to respond to them left and right for various calls but they want to cut us. Our units are asked to do more and more and now the county is gonna want us do it with less like possibly having to cut the air unit which provides safety for ground units. Guess of course until one of gets hurt then they will wake up. They are quickly turning our county into Pasco which is scary.

I think the BOCC understands more then you are giving them credit for. Are you happy with the proposed new contract? The Sheriff wastes too much money and this has been brought to light. We have deputies that live in the same communities you complain of, gated. Our units are asked to do more and more, but that's our jobs. We all know that economical hard times bring more crime and this is nothing new. Hernando is a depressed county like many others in the nation. The air unit does provide safety for the ground units. Look at the cost of this. We've had one deputy killed in how many years? We've had how many major cases where the air unit was used? As for Pasco, White is doing a good job or why would we need to worry about losing deputies to them?