At the Orange County Supervisors meeting on July 28, 2009, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens detailed the plans to cut over $20.5 million dollars from the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's budget. To make the department fit into the budget, 2 assistant sheriffs (out of 4 total) and 6 captains (out of 14 total) will be laid off or retired. The determination of how these 8 positions will be taken off the payroll, layoff or retirement, has not been finalized.
Sheriff Hutchens emphasized that she is only comfortable taking such a drastic cut for two years. If the cuts last more than two years, Sheriff Hutchens is concerned that public safety could be negatively impacted. Sheriff Hutchens reiterated that she decided to "chop at the top" to avoid impacting frontline public safety. She acknowledged that losing the staff is a tough decision, but the first priority is maintaining public safety.
The cuts to the top levels of the Sheriff's department are in addition to $21.667 million in cuts either already implemented or in the process of being implemented. Cuts which have been implemented :
- The Women's Jail has been closed to save $6 million.
- The North Compound of the Musick facility has been closed to save $1.26 million.
- Departmental overtime doing immigration credential screening has been cut and saves about $960,000.
- $4.3 million is being saved by not filling 51 vacancies n the department.
The cuts which are in the process of being implemented include:
- Reducing pathology services to save $500,000
- Reducing the data services contract to save $650,000
- $5.1 million savings from changes in shifts, layoffs and removing positions from the payroll
- $2 million saved by changes in jail schedules
- $900,000 saved by moving inmate workers to the Central jail
Supervisors Moorlach and Campbell are skeptical of the $6 million savings from closing the Women's Jail. They questioned Sheriff Hutchens at length about how the closure reduced staff and overhead. Inmates from the Women's Jail who do not require medical care or higher security are placed in a separate area of the Musick facility. Women inmates requiring medical care or higher security are placed at the Intake section of the Central Jail.
199 personnel are being effected by the cuts. Some of these staff will have their schedules changed. Others will be reclassified to lower positions. The reclassifications have a ripple effect as higher ranked staff move into lower level positions and displace the people currently in the position. In the end, 25 to 30 Sheriff's Department staff will lose their jobs.
Sheriff Hutchens is anticipating more cuts coming in the FY 2010-11 budget. She has instructed her departments to "virtually deconstruct our departments and start from scratch to find what you need for frontline law enforcement." Supervisor Bates reminded Sheriff Hutchens that she should take the opportunity during these layoffs and budget cuts to streamline the employee classifications and levels in her department.
Supervisors Bates and Campbell reminded the Sheriff that paycuts and furloughs should be considered as ways to reduce the budget even further. Campbell discussed that the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs (AOCDS) is negotiating a contract in the fall. Paycuts and furloughs could be negotiated into the contract.
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