Sheriff remains at loggerheads with county commission

Early talks regarding the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) budget for the upcoming fiscal year got off to a rocky start during Tuesday’s Alachua County budget meeting.

A preview of ACSO expenses next year by Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell revealed that it is likely to be at least $5 million more than last year’s budget. The budget will be officially submitted to the county June 1.

Darnell’s budget request takes place in the midst of the ACSO budget appeal for the 2010-11 fiscal year to the Office of Policy and Budget in Tallahassee. The appeal came about after the county commission reduced ACSO’s budget by $500,000 last July.

Commissioner Susan Baird made a motion, supported by Commissioner Lee Pinkoson, to restore $350,000 to the sheriff’s office budget in exchange for dropping the appeal. Darnell expressed her willingness to settle for the lesser amount rather than the full $500,000.

“The precedent we could set right here, right now is that we can work together,” said Pinkoson.

The motion failed to pass with the three remaining commissioners, Mike Byerly, Paula Delaney and Rodney Long not supporting the motion.

Commissioner Byerly voiced his concern that settling would be a betrayal to the process of setting the budget, and would set a precedent that any agency that disagrees with their budget can sue the county to get their way. He said he would rather see the appeal run its course.

The budget discussions between Byerly and Darnell during the meeting became hostile as they disagreed to what level the commission should inquire into the sheriff’s office spending.

“There’s been an adversarial relationship between the board and either me and previous sheriffs,” Darnell said. “I thought it was personal, but then learned it’s been a historical situation.”

Prior to the meeting, the commission sent a request to Darnell asking her for specific program cost information. Darnell said she tried to respond to the commissioner’s questions during her presentation. Still, she found the level of inquisition to be “intrusive” and the tone to be “disrespectful.”

Byerly disagreed, saying he believed his questions were fair. He said it was routine for commissioners to ask questions and gather data in order to do their jobs.

He said that in the past couple of years the demand for the ACSO has declined as the department has received fewer calls, probably because various jurisdictions now respond to those calls. Byerly questioned why the sheriff’s budget has not reflected this decline in need for the service.

“I think it’s unavoidable; there’s going to be conflict, particularly during a time where budget reductions are going on across the state,” Byerly said.

The Sheriff’s Office is the largest department in the county’s budget. In addition to the unincorporated areas of the county, the ACSO is ultimately responsible for law enforcement in all nine municipalities in the county as well as the county jail.