JoCo public safety budget includes increase in patrols
Gilbertson declines COLA, 4% pay-raise
From our weekly issue dated May 06, 2009
Heads of Josephine County’s various public safety agencies presented their budget proposals during a Budget Committee hearing on Tuesday, April 28.
Some 28 people were present at Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass to hear the testimony.
Vice Chairman Dave Toler stated that Sheriff Gil Gilbertson declined the 4 percent raise and Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) approved for him by the Budget Committee on Thursday, April 23. Toler asked that Gilbertson’s refusal be reflected in the proposed fiscal 2009-10 budget.
County Chief Financial Officer Rosemary DeLashmutt instructed committee members that they could withdraw the previous motion to grant the pay raise.
Toler moved to withdraw the raise and COLA for the sheriff. Commissioner Sandi Cassanelli seconded, thanked the sheriff “immensely.” She said that his raise refusal will help with public perception regarding how tax dollars are spent. The motion passed 5-0.
Gilbertson stated that the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) has started hiring additional personnel, and that within the next six months there will be a “change in productivity level” as a result. He added that Juvenile Justice and the D.A.’s office will see increases in their caseloads after the new deputies complete training and start patrolling.
Also addressed by Gilbertson was his refusal of the approved 4 percent raise. He said that if he received it, he would have simply donated it back to JCSO.
“It’s not the sheriff that deserves the raise, it’s the deputies,” he said. “I’m not here for the money.”
Sheriff’s Business Manager Sue Watkins said that JCSO’s proposed 2009-10 budget will provide 20 hours of patrols per day, up from the 12 currently offered. It would increase the jail’s capacity from 105 to 140 inmates and enable non-emergency calls to be answered seven days a week.
“There will be a significant improvement in response times,” Watkins said.
She stated that three deputies have been hired and recently began attending classes at the Oregon Public Safety Academy at Monmouth. A staffing plan previously approved by the county commissioners allows for adding 16 positions. Eight would be for patrol, four for the jail and the rest for support staff.
Juvenile Justice Division Director Janine Wilson gave a presentation on her agency’s caseload. She said that the juvenile detention facility had 373 admissions during 2008, and that her agency had 1,145 youth referrals. Approximately 73 percent of those came from the Grants Pass Dept. of Public Safety, she said.
Of those referrals, Wilson said, 113 were for felonies and 336 were for misdemeanor offenses.
Wilson said that the state average for juvenile recidivism is 29.9 percent, anoting that Josephine County’s is 26.9 percent.
Juvenile Justice raised $945,200 in revenue during the 2008-09 fiscal year, Wilson stated. In terms of expenses, the shelter receives around $521,710. More than $2 million goes toward personnel; and supplies total $82,301.
The agency’s total budget is $2.3 million, meaning that it requires $1.37 million from the county’s public safety resources fund, Wilson said. However, Juvenile Justice is preparing for an estimated 20 percent cut in state funds and looking for grants and ways to become self-sufficient, she added.
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District Attorney Stephen Campbell said that during the 2007-08 fiscal year, his office reviewed approximately 4,469 police reports and issued 4,720 criminal charges. He said that one in every five referred charges was rejected due to a lack of evidence or treated as violations.
“There are some cases we just can’t prosecute,” Campbell said.
The district attorney’s office prosecuted 95 cases in that time, Campbell said, resulting in a 67 percent conviction rate.
“That rate has been falling,” he stated.
He stated that during the 2007-08 fiscal year, more than 1,900 victims were served by the D.A.’s office, which also collected $3.1 million in child support funds.
“That is an all-time record,” Campbell said.
Approximately 4,239 cases are now before his office and spread out between eight prosecutors, he said, for an average of 500 cases each.
“That is a lot of work,” he said.
Campbell said that some 2,200 cases still are outstanding due to failures to appear in court.
“That bogs down the courts and bogs down the D.A.,” Campbell said.
Four of the deputy district attorneys have been hired during the past year, Campbell said. Additionally, the department has lost five prosecutors to Deschutes County due to the “horrendous caseload” that they face as a result of low staffing levels.
“These folks are working very hard,” he said.
Community Justice Director Abe Huntley stated that his agency receives no county general fund dollars because those revenues come from the state. However, the Legislature is facing a $4.4 billion budget shortfall, which will result in state funding
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