Proposed Cuts in Sheriff’s Budget

I am very pleased to see that Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford has the courage to do the unthinkable in Ventura County: suggest some cuts to the bloated Sheriff’s Department budget.

It was no surprise that the sheriff threatened to close the gang violence unit and the East County Jail. This is an old budget trick.

The real question is: Will the Board of Supervisors do the right thing and demand accountability and efficiency in all departments, including the Sheriff’s Department?

The board did the right thing in hiring Hufford to get the county’s budget under control. Now the board should continue doing the right thing by backing Hufford as he attempts to do the job he was hired to do.

BLAKE BOYLE

Desert Hot Springs

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Ventura County is facing a budget crisis thanks to the mismanagement by the Board of Supervisors in dealing with the improper Medicare billing and subsequent legal fees, and the failed merger of the mental health and social service agencies. Now we’re supposed to trust the board and its pick, Harry Hufford, to get us out of this mess that they created by cutting the budgets of our public safety agencies. Wrong!

Contrary to what The Times believes, it was wrong when Hufford cut public safety budgets when he worked in Los Angeles County, and it is absolutely wrong for him to cut them here in Ventura County.

We enjoy the fact that crime in Ventura County is at a 30-year low, and we want to keep it that way. Cutting the budget of the Sheriff’s Department, the district attorney’s office, fire and probation departments, regardless of Proposition 172 funds, is not the way to make up for this budget crisis.

TODD SANDS

Camarillo