As the Clark County council prepares to update its two-year budget, the sheriff’s office has submitted a wish list asking for funding for vehicles, armor, more employees and a study to replace its mothballed central precinct.
“This is just a continuing conversation that we had for quite some time,” Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins told the council at a recent work session on the topic.
Late last year, the council approved the county’s 2017-2018 budget that included $112.5 million for the sheriff’s office, up from the previous biennium’s $109.8 million. However, Darin Rouhier, finance manager for the sheriff’s office, said that the increase went to rising labor costs, which take up about 75 percent of its budget.
As a result, Rouhier said, the sheriff’s office is effectively facing a $1.9 million cut. In response, he said the sheriff’s office had to eliminate five corrections deputy positions, reduce spending on inmate food and other expenditures.
Later this month, the Clark County council will consider the 2017 spring supplemental budget. It’s basically an update to the county’s 2017-2018 budget that makes corrections and technical adjustments, accounts for grants and other funding and approves time-sensitive or critical requests from county departments.
The Clark County Budget Office received 84 budget requests from county departments and is recommending the council approve 78. Although the budget office is recommending four of the requests from the sheriff’s office, it’s recommending another with “major changes,” two with “conditions,” and it’s not recommending two others.
The budget office isn’t recommending that the council add $275,000 to the sheriff office’s budget to purchase protective ballistic equipment (bulletproof vests and helmets, gas masks, etc.) The budget office reasons that the sheriff’s office has previously found funding for the mandated equipment in its budget and can do so again for the 101 vests and 120 ballistic helmets it expects to replace in the next two years.
Undersheriff Mike Cooke said that the kevlar in the vests and helmets expires, and they are becoming increasingly expensive to replace.
“The problem is that equipment has never been funded as a specific line item in the sheriff’s office budget,” he said.
The sheriff’s office is also requesting $203,745 to add two positions to its public records unit, which currently consists of four staff and one manager. Last year, the sheriff’s office lost a records-management contract worth $1.3 million with the Vancouver Police Department, which reduced the unit’s workload.
According to Chief Civil Deputy Steve Shea, the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office took 600 records requests from the unit’s backlog. But he noted that the sheriff’s office receives 200 records requests a month (far more than any other county agency), which he said are becoming increasingly complex and time-consuming to fulfill.
But the budget office is recommending not funding the request until the sheriff’s office produces “historical trends and workload measures” to justify it. At a recent work session, Council Chair Marc Boldt also expressed some skepticism.
“Nothing is permanent, but it’s hard to take permanent positions away, I know that,” he said.
The sheriff’s office has also requested $150,000 for a transport van to move inmates to Cowlitz and Multnomah counties. The sheriff’s office has two vans, one of which it is seeking to replace, and the third would give it more capacity to transport inmates. The vehicle would help Clark County participate in a multi-state agreement under which local governments throughout the West Coast transport inmates to jurisdictions where they’re wanted. The vehicle would be accessible for inmates with disabilities, include security features and would allow inmates to be separated by gender.
The sheriff’s office also asked for $200,000 for a study for the replacement of its central precinct in Brush Prairie that was shuttered because it became so dilapidated.
According to Budget Director Adriana Prata, the budget office recommended funding the purchase of the third vehicle, but to then hold off on replacing the second until the county completes a study on its existing vehicle fleet. The budget office recommends funding the study to find a replacement of the central precinct, but wrapping it into a broader study of the county’s facilities.
The sheriff’s office is seeking to purchase a Lenco BearCat G2, an armored vehicle to transport tactical deputies. Cooke said that the sheriff’s office has two “Peacekeeper” armored vehicles it obtained nearly two decades ago through a military transfer program, but they’re at risk of breaking down during calls and are beyond their useful lives.
The budget office approved purchasing the $270,000 for the BearCat if the sheriff’s office has the money from funds seized from the proceeds of criminal activity, which would make the acquisition budget-neutral. According to Cooke, the sheriff’s office has secured the money.
