By Anthony Smith, chairman Pinal County Board of Supervisors
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are posted only for purposes of discussion.)
The Board of Supervisors have taken another step towards fixing problems associated with Pinal County’s contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that terminated on July 24, 2014.
For eight years, Pinal County taxpayers have been covering the burden of this ill-conceived contract. The current Board of Supervisors wasn’t the first to discover that the lack of a fair per diem rate was causing us to bleed millions of dollars; however we are the first to take action to correct the issue.
Last Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors voted to reduce the jail detention budget by $5 million. The budget reduction was necessary because we no longer receive the $11 million in revenue for housing ICE detainees in our county jail and a large staff isn’t necessary to oversee empty cells.
The Board of Supervisors and county leaders know the unfortunate result of a reduction in force. This event not only impacts many of our dedicated employees, but it has an impact on their families and local economies as well.
While $5 million may seem like a sizable sum, this reduction may be only the first of several possible reductions in the jail detention budget. In addition, the budget problem has been exacerbated by a large increase in jail staffing. When the ICE contract started in 2006, jail staffing totaled 149 full time equivalents (FTEs). In 2014, jail staffing totaled 359.5 FTEs. The total increase in jail staff since 2006 has been an additional 210 FTEs.
The Board of Supervisors was proactively engaged in contingency planning in the event that a new contract with ICE could not be signed by the July 24th deadline. Despite Sheriff Babeu’s allegations, the Board of Supervisors along with county administration have been busy preparing for the possibility of life without the ICE contract. The last two and a half months have been filled with activities such as:
· April 15th – County issues the 100 day Notice of Cancellation to ICE
· May 15th – Arrangements for a jail staffing study was initiated
· June 18th – Board of Supervisors approves a Reduction in Force policy
· June 30th – Contract amendment was approved allowing Pinal County to be included in Maricopa County’s jail staffing study
· July 3rd – County Manager requests ICE provide a formal “drawdown plan”
It isn’t helpful for the Sheriff to engage in “finger-pointing”. As shown in the above timeline, our handling of the issue has been far from “clumsy” as Sheriff Babeu alleges. The best way to restore our fiscal health and achieve top quality jail operations is for the Sheriff, the Board of Supervisors and County Administration to work together. I will continue to make the tough decisions to establish reasonable staffing levels and protect the taxpayer’s interest, while providing for safe jail facilities. I hope for your continued support.
Gabe Austin/Flickr
