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President's Message
March 2010
Sheriff's State of the Department Address
On February 25th, at the Sheriff's main office in San Bernardino, Sheriff Rod Hoops presented his State of the Department Address. This event was attended by many Department members and County governmental personnel. Sheriff Hoops gave an overall recap of the last year's achievements within the organization.
Sheriff Hoops referred to past Sheriff's and hoped he could live up to the "lofty standards" established by men like Walter and Emmett Shay, Frank Bland and our most recent retired Sheriff, Gary Penrod. Sheriff Hoops recognized Sheriff Bland's 28 years of service to this County and said even though he loves our organization, he did not plan on staying Sheriff until he was 80!
The Sheriff spoke about being a good steward of County tax dollars and recognized the lean economic times. He plans on continuing the search for additional ways to trim the department budget without compromising much needed services throughout the County. Department personnel are looking at other areas within the organization which could be consolidated like the Victor Valley and City of Adelanto Stations for additional cost savings.
Sheriff Hoops spoke of forming partnerships with police agencies throughout the County, forming regional teams to share in the cost of some specialized operations. This type of interaction would also help facilitate communication between the involved agencies. He further talked about Assembly Bill 900, and the $100 million this bill will bring to San Bernardino County for the construction of an additional 1,368 beds at the Adelanto Detention Center.
Sheriff Hoops gave an overview of the amount of calls for service, citing there were 1,085,039 telephone calls received at our dispatch centers, 839,464 calls for service, 115, 750 reports generated, 105,388 individuals booked into our correctional facilities, and 7,686,624 meals prepared by our food services personnel.
He closed by saying, "I want to thank our volunteers and our employees for making the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department the greatest law enforcement agency in the nation. I am so very proud to be your Sheriff."
Budget Talks
Even though there have not been any additional meetings with County representatives concerning their projected budget shortage of $80 to $90 million dollars, since my last article, I do have some information to help keep you informed about budget related issues in the County.
Information supplied to me by County personnel show they have been able to reduce spending in non-personnel areas amounting to $51 million over the past year. This leaves the County with an additional projected budget shortcoming of approximately $29 to $39 million dollars depending on what the actual budget shortage ends up being when all things are taken into consideration. It appears the County would like to reduce the remaining budget deficit through wage deferrals, but no discussions about this have happened yet!
In December, the Assistant CAO Dean Arbatzis gave a presentation to the SEBA Board of Directors about the financial wellness of the County. During the presentation, his deficit projection for the upcoming fiscal year of 2010-2011 was $80 million, based in part on the belief of property tax revenue sources having a 6% decrease in the previous year. Those figures have been re-calculated, and by the County projections, the property tax revenue funding sources will have a reduction of approximately 9%. This is what has caused County budget shortage projections to increase from $80 million to $90 million dollars.
I am hopeful by the time you read this article I will have been able to meet with the new County CAO Greg Devereaux and the County negotiating team about what they have in mind. SEBA personnel are in the process of developing information about what kinds of actions if any, other law enforcement associations are being forced to take because of budget shortages in their jurisdictions. I will continue to keep you informed as new information becomes available.
And as always, last but not least, "Stay safe out there."
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