LET Funding: Process for Disbursement of Funds to be Discussed at Tomorrow's Meeting

After doing a significant amount of reading over the weekend, in light of this very embarrassing article which popped up online on Saturday morning and was in the print edition of the PNJ on Sunday--I feel the BCC needs to discuss the Law Enforcement Trust Fund (LET) process.

I say the article was embarrassing because it was.  For the BCC's part, I believe we can do a better job at being more involved in the process, because at the end of the day-although only the Sheriff can recommend allocations from this fund-- we are the approval authority for the expenditure of these funds.

Under the current process we are utilizing--we simply reimburse the ECSO out of the LET fund for checks that have already, in some cases, been written and cashed out of the ECSO general fund.

But what if the expenditure is questionable?  What if the BCC does not believe that a particular expenditure (out of the dozens and dozens made yearly) is appropriate under the statute?  Under our current system, we have no control, no check and balance function, and no recourse.  The statute is clear, the BCC must take a more active role in the process, and AGO Opinions are clear that the BCC has the final say in whether or not an expenditure should be authorized.

A letter from the SAO last year described some overall areas of the process that could use refinement as well, and I have heard from numerous constituents that want a greater role for the BCC in this process.  So I am listening and I will discuss this with the full board tomorrow morning.

This Email Says it All on How Residents Feel about Tax Rates Going Up.....

I will not vote to raise year-over-year millage tax rates on Escambia County Property Owners, haven't done it for 10 years as an elected official, I'm not starting now....

I heard it when I campaigned last year, and I hear it today.  People are fed up with tax increases, and they are angry at the cavalier attitude some government bureaucrats and elected officials display when they say "We need more money, just raise the property tax millage rate!"  People have had it!   This email is emblematic of the sentiment I hear.......

Letter to the Court Administrator......

Just received notice of this today.  Looks like another service is being cut and the BCC will be picking up responsibility for some aspects of this coverage after next month....

Coffee With a Commissioner 7-25-2017

We held our monthly coffee with the commissioner this morning at the McDonald's  on Blue Angel and Hwy 98.  We had a very good turnout, many were interested in discussing neighborhood safety.

In particular, one attendee was concerned about an abandoned house that continues to be vandalized in his neighborhood.  "This is bringing in people that are squatting in there, doing drugs!" he stated.  Administrator Jack Brown was present, and he discussed the code enforcement process, what it is, what it does, and what it does not do.  We will be monitoring this situation going forward to the best
of our ability.

Another two attendees wanted to know about a project that was recently approved by the planning board.  "I'm told this complex is going to be HUD (low income) housing--I don't want this in my neighborhood because this will have a detrimental effect on my property values."  We discussed that process with the assembled group, encouraging them to continue to attend the meetings and to
verbalize their concerns at the planning board level and also to the full BCC meeting.  I expressed my own concerns about this situation to the assembled group.

Next we talked about the budget, the jail, and the current issues surrounding public transit/ECAT.
The dialogue was good, and this was a good cross-section of the community that came by to say hello and express their concerns about a variety of topics.

The final issue we discussed, which I brought up, was the subject of raising the sheriff's MSTU for law enforcement.  Initially, several of the group supported raising the rate on the citizens in the unincorporated parts of the county, which would cost the typical homeowner about $40 extra yearly.  Once we discussed the fact that Pensacola Residents pay about twice the amount per citizen for police and their crime is about twice as high as the County's--several realized what is obvious......there is not a direct correlation between what is spent on LEOs and the crime rate--it is more to do with demographics.  I told the group that they may be interested in following this week's budget meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.

Why Cut the SRO Program?

Bellview Middle School is one of the seven schools that might lose their SROs.  Why cut the SRO program?

I get it that we are at somewhat of a budget impasse at the moment--but why cut the SRO program?

Bellview Middle School without a SRO??--this could be problematic.  Bailey Middle without the SRO??  We are going to have parents enraged.  This won't be pretty.

Of course, this is the Sheriff's prerogative if he chooses--but 1/2 of the cost of the SRO's is funded by the school board, and 1/2 of the benefits for the SRO officers is funded by the School District as well.

If he chose to--the Sheriff could offset his costs of the SRO program even more, by utilizing Law Enforcement Trust Funds to accomplish this by funding some of his 1/2 using LET funds.

SRO's are specifically called out as an allowable use of LET funds--so instead of funding charitable groups to such an extreme level--as has been occurring over the last several years----some of this money could be used for the SRO program.  This would free up general fund dollars for the ECSO to fund other issues--like compression pay or raises.

Plus--the contract for the SRO's with the school district gives the sheriff the ability to pull the officers out of the schools when necessary due to emergency situations or need.  This seems like a win-win for budgetary and pragmatic reasons that strongly benefits the ECSO.

So again I ask--"Why cut the SRO Program?"

I'm going to suggest that we discuss the LET funding at an upcoming BCC meeting--especially in light of this letter from the state attorney...........

The embarrassing article and cartoon from Sunday should also be a wake up call for the BCC.

I think we need to establish a better process for approving the expenditures from this LET fund

What Would an Appeal to Tallahassee Look Like?

An appeal of the Escambia BCC's adopted budget allocation to the Sheriff's office would be time consuming, data intense, and there would be no guarantee that the Governor would side with the Sheriff.......he might very well side with the BCC!

While we are still in the process of working through our budget for the FY 2018--there is growing speculation that unless the BCC fully funds the 8% year-over-year budget request from the Sheriff's office---the ECSO will appeal our adopted budget to the Governor.

The Sheriff has very publicly stated there would be no compromise.  He has communicated this personally to me as well.

Currently, Sheriff has requested a total of nearly $60 Million for the FY, an 8% increase above and beyond the $55.4 Million he requested and received last year.

I am on record stating I do not believe we will be able to fully fund the complete 8% increase the sheriff has requested this year.  I am not voting to raise the year over year total millage rate--taxpayers are giving all they can currently.  I have also stated publicly that I believe what we ultimately get the sheriff will be somewhere between the 1.57% increase that has been offered (over last year) and a 4-4.5% increase year over year.  I've also stated that it is my desire to see the street deputies get a pay increase---along with our corrections officers---if the monies could be found.  I won't support one without the other.

I've also stated that I do not believe this will go all the way through the process to the Governor's Administration Commission.  Here's why:

Over the last 30 years, only a couple dozen of these appeals have been filed.  With 67 Counties in Florida, this means over the last 30 years there have been the possibility of more than 2000 such appeals.   Of these, only 4  have made it all the way through the process to come before the Governor and his full commission ( one settled after appearing before the commission, but prior to a ruling being published). This equates to about 1% of the total statewide sheriff's budgets in this 30 year period being appealed, and of those appealed, the 4 that were heard by the full commission represent just over 16% of the total that could have been heard .  (The process can be time consuming, and the parties must appear before a first committee to present their respective cases, and then the parties must appear before a committee comprised of the Governor and his Cabinet Members' aides, and if not settled at this point, only then do the parties appear before the Governor and the full commission.)

Recently the Hernando County Sheriff filed an appeal, which led to scrutiny of his budget, which let to the discovery of about $2 Million in funds that should have, and eventually were, turned back over the the Hernando County BCC.  Eventually, the County and the Sheriff in that case settled their dispute.

Alachua County has seen a few instances of tension, with one ruling being handed down in favor of that sheriff for an amount that was far less than what was requested going into the process.

So the notion that this will be a quick, easy victory for either side is illogical.  I hope the issue can be settled here locally because I know that any outcome dictated downward from Tallahassee (in the unlikely event a locally generated appeal were to even get that far) would be a Pyrrhic victory for our community--no matter which side "Wins."

"The process is designed, and the intent of the whole thing is to have the parties to these disputes settle the dispute short of the process going all the way to the Governor" said a source that is very familiar with this process in Tallahassee with whom I spoke recently.  She continued  "There were many, many years where no appeals were filed statewide."

Of the four that did go all the way, with which this employee with whom I spoke was familiar, one settled before the final ruling by the commission--the other three are linked here, here, and here.

So yes, this is a convoluted, time-consuming process with no pre-determined outcomes and an apparent goal of forcing parties to compromise.

On WCOA Radio This Morning Discussing the Budget....

As we work through our budget process for 2017-2018, challenges have been present around every turn.  Our latest challenge is how to cut enough to fully fund all the departments while simultaneously not raising year-over-year property tax rates.

I'll be discussing this on WCOA this morning, along with the pending class-action settlement of the jail explosion and the beach roundabouts.

Listen to the podcast here.  (Part 1)   (part 2)