Another tough budget choice: detention vs. patrol deputies
| Monday, Jun 29 2009 05:27 PM
Last Updated Monday, Jun 29 2009 05:27 PM
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Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood will ask Kern County supervisors to lay off between 45 and 93 detention deputies and 15 civilian employees Tuesday.
If things go well, from Youngblood's perspective, he'll only have to lay off 45 deputies and the civilians.
But if supervisors decide to close the minimum security building at Lerdo Jail to balance the sheriff's budget, Youngblood said he will have to lay off another 48 detention deputies.
Anthony Leal of the Kern County Detention Officers Association thinks Youngblood has other options than to lay off the 45 detention deputies in the sheriff's downtown jail.
Youngblood said he plans to backfill the "blue patch" detention deputy jobs with "red patch" street deputies.
Leal said the detention deputies are cheaper and more experienced than their street counterparts.
"We have nothing against patrol deputies," Leal said. "We think they should be on the street. Our training is in the jail."
Youngblood said the street deputies are the better choice.
The cost of putting new deputies in the jail is just about the same as the cost of the detention deputies they will be replacing, he said.
Patrol deputies get certification pay and an extra pay grade, Leal argued. Youngblood said detention deputies have a longevity pay that counters the value.
But the deciding factor for Youngblood was that, in case of a crisis where he needs to send as many people as he can into the streets, he can pull the "red patch" deputies out of the jail, pair them with another deputy and put them on the street.
"I cannot do that with a detention deputy," Youngblood said.
Keeping patrol deputies employed is critical to protecting the public in the lean budget years, he argued.
"I don't know when the end of the recession is. I have to have the ability to respond to crimes," Youngblood said.
The county has stated that if county unions are willing to make concessions and allow all county employees to pay into their health and retirement benefits, it would mean millions of dollars in savings to the county.
Youngblood has said he needs between $5 million and $6.5 million to keep Lerdo minimum open.
Leal said union negotiations are not a guaranteed way to prevent closure of Lerdo minimum.
Negotiations will not be over quickly enough to impact the budget, he said, and there is no guarantee that the concessions the union would make would be enough to save the jail.
And, whether the jail is saved or not, 45 detention deputies will probably lose their jobs Tuesday.
