Sheriff’s Share of $1.4-Billion County Budget Is Short of Request

A $1.4-billion San Diego County budget unveiled Thursday includes $109 million for the Sheriff’s Department--more than a 20% increase--but nonetheless falls far short of the spending increase sought by Sheriff John Duffy.

In his proposal, County Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey recommended that the department’s budget be increased by $18,822,493 for the fiscal year starting July 1. That amount includes money for the salaries of 221 more employees, a new psychiatric unit at the women’s County Jail at Las Colinas in Santee and about $4 million for operating the newly expanded Vista jail, which is scheduled to open July 1.

Duffy had wanted an increase of $31 million. At last year’s budget hearings, Duffy vehemently opposed his allocation and underscored his protests by temporarily disbanding the sheriff’s child abuse unit, claiming the department lacked adequate funding.

Over the past year, the Sheriff’s Department has been harshly criticized by the county Grand Jury, the public and the press over conditions in the county’s seven jails and the behavior of some of the jail deputies--problems that Duffy, in past public statements, blamed directly on lack of money.

Duffy was unavailable for comment Thursday. Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Bob Takeshta said, “We’re very pleased with the fact that our crime prevention unit is going to be fully funded, as well as additional dispatchers and the new internal affairs positions which were recommended by the Grand Jury.”

Will Probably Ask More

Takeshta said he had not spoken directly with Duffy regarding the budget, but expects that the Sheriff’s staff will review the proposal and go before the Board of Supervisors to ask for more money.

Assistant CAO David Janssen said he and Hickey met with Duffy on Wednesday to show him the proposed budget. Although Duffy expressed concern about lack of funding for medical staffing in the jails and for adding law enforcement personnel in unincorporated areas, Janssen said he expects “a positive budget relationship this year.”

Janssen said the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors are “particularly interested in coming to an agreement on standards in the jails and in law enforcement, so we don’t have to fight about it anymore.”

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Golding, in a morning press conference, was more direct in her assessment of Duffy’s relationship with the county. Golding said that Duffy had employed “a great deal of rhetoric” to convince the public he was short of money, “when in fact his budget has received perhaps the most substantial increases of any.”

“The sheriff can use more money, and I believe that, but so can every other department,” Golding said. “The entire social services and health area is more in need of funds.”

In fact, 55% of the total proposed budget has been set aside for health and social services. The health-services budget includes a $1.6-million increase in the contract the county has with UCSD Medical Center for the hospitalization and emergency treatment of indigent patients. There are also provisions for 13 new employees in the Office of AIDS Coordination, and 37 more staffers to handle increased caseloads in foster care, general relief and Aid to Families With Dependent Children.

Under the proposed budget, 33 more county employees will be hired to address growing environmental problems such as medical waste and asbestos in buildings, and 41 positions will be added to the planning and land-use department, which will manage the sensitive-lands program.

Other budget provisions falling under the category of “public protection” include $2.3 million for construction of a medium-security jail and probation camp on Otay Mesa, scheduled for completion in 1991, and $1.1 million for expansion of Juvenile Hall. The budget also provides money for 13 more Superior Court judges, 12 Municipal Court judges and 15 new attorneys each for the district attorney and public defender.

Despite the fact that the proposed budget is the largest in the county’s history, up 12% from last year, Hickey described the county’s financial outlook Thursday as “bleak and somber.”

Even with a balanced budget, as required by state law, the county will fall $185 million short in funding of necessary programs, Hickey said.

There will be no money in the 1989-90 budget for increased medical services in the jails or for legal representation of juveniles in dependency cases, despite recent recommendations by the County Grand Jury to step up funding for both. Money for the County Medical Services program for medically indigent adults will be cut, and a juvenile detention camp for convicted youths may be closed if no more funding is found.