The cost of having more deputies in schools and inmates in jail is playing out in a 13.7 percent increase in the Flagler County Sheriff's Office budget request for 2018-19.
BUNNELL — Increases in operating expenses and school resource deputies have prompted Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly to request a 13.7 percent increase in his budget over last year.
Staly presented his $31,778,384 budget proposal during a recent Flagler County Commission workshop. By comparison, the budget adopted for the Sheriff’s Office in 2017-18 was $27,937,202.
Part of that increase is due to a new state mandate requiring armed personnel in each school. Currently, six deputies are stationed at the nine Flagler County schools, but the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act signed by Gov. Rick Scott on March 9 mandates a change to that. In May, the School Board and Sheriff’s Office agreed to fund 12 school resource deputies. The city of Palm Coast will fund another at a cost of $110,535.
The total cost of the program is about $1.6 million, which will be divided between the school district and the county. The cost to each is $788,942.
Because the Sheriff’s Office has funded about $600,000 of the program in past years, the impact of the new deputies on the county budget is only $145,000.
Staly’s budget also includes $50,000 for a deputy to patrol Imagine School at Town Center, a charter school. The school is matching that amount.
The law does not mandate that the Sheriff's Office provide the deputies, instead placing the responsibility on individual school districts. In funding the school deputies, Commission Chair Greg Hansen said the county is being a good citizen.
While the law underfunds the mandate to provide armed personnel, Flagler County is in a better position than many other counties. That's because the district has fewer, larger schools, which means it must come up with fewer resource deputies.
The additional school resource deputies represent the only Sheriff's Office staff increases for the coming fiscal year. Last year, the county agreed to add 10 deputies and six corrections positions. Because those positions were funded only for six months, the 2018-19 budget request includes $497,342 to continue them.
Staly’s budget request also includes a 3 percent cost-of-living increase and a step increase for employees. The latter is largely meant to keep the Sheriff’s Office competitive. Passage of the school safety law has created a tremendous demand for deputies across the state and there has been a surge in hiring, Staly said.
In his proposal, Staly pointed out that the county has invested tens of thousands of dollars recruiting and training new employees and argued that it must now be able to keep them.
“To me, this is an investment on retaining people when I’ve got everybody trying to steal them from me,” he told commissioners.
Another reason expenses are up is an increase in the inmate population. The average daily population is 207. In 2016-17, it was 165. The county jail can hold up to 404 inmates.
However, Staly is projecting an average of 225 inmates for the coming year. This translates into an additional $97,682 for food and $102,500 in pharmacy expenses.
The sheriff’s budget includes an increase of $301,500 for vehicle replacement and $200,000 for an emergency reserve to be tapped if a hurricane or similar disaster strikes. There is also a request for computer replacement funding and money for equipment and furnishings at the new Palm Coast District Office on Old Kings Road.
The city of Palm Coast contracts with the Sheriff's Office for law enforcement. This year, the contract will fund 28 positions — one commander, three sergeants, two corporals, 21 deputies and the school resource deputy.
Increased revenues from contractual agreements and grants would offset the level of funding the county must provide for the budget, though that will still increase by 12 percent.
The Sheriff’s Office will receive $204,000 in Victims of Crime Assistance grant funding and $84,371 from a new domestic violence grant.
There was almost no discussion of expenses related to the evacuation of the Sheriff’s Office Operations Center, except that Staly said it would not affect his budget request. Workers are being moved over concerns that the building is making them sick. Twenty-seven employees so far have filed worker’s compensation claims.
The building is slated for testing this week.
At a separate workshop Monday, County Administrator Craig Coffey presented the budgets comprising the General Fund. Most had only modest increases, with the largest being a 3 percent cost-of-living increase for employees.