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Pinellas Sheriff To Lay Off 25 Pinellas Deputies

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 11, 2008

LARGO - Twenty-five Pinellas County sheriff's deputies are to lose their jobs as of Aug. 8, but all they have to do to land a job elsewhere is look across Tampa Bay.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is interested in taking them on.

For weeks, Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats, at the request of the Pinellas County Commission, has had to wrestle with slashing his budget by 10 percent.

Coat's announcement Thursday of 25 layoffs brings the total number of deputies pushed out the door to 61, he said. Thirty-six are detention deputies at Pinellas County Jail; the other 25 either patrol neighborhoods or maintain security at courthouses.

"It's not a good position for this county to be in as it regards public safety," Coats said.

Hillsborough A Different Story

When Coats recently submitted his roughly $260 million budget to the county commission, $25.7 million had been slashed, Chief Deputy Bob Gualtieri said. Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee had to cut his budget, too, but only by $4 million, said Hillsborough sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

But Gee has the exact opposite problem Coats has. While Coats winces at having to let recent hires go, Gee has 108 openings, Carter said. One problem has been Gee has had a difficult time finding qualified candidates.

The Hillsborough sheriff's office has 1,357 positions for sworn personnel, not including detention deputies, Carter said. Pinellas has 1,862 sworn positions, which includes detention deputies, said Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner.

"They're willing to hire 25 we just laid off," Coats said.

Coats said no other sheriff's office in the state has been told to slash its budget by as much as 10 percent. The county commission asked all departments to cut their budgets by that percentage, but Coats thinks his agency's mission, public safety, should have earned it higher priority than some of the other departments, which includes parks.

"It's unprecedented for our agency," he said.

Programs Eliminated

With the 61 layoffs, and a restructuring that resulted in the elimination of 275 positions, Coats has had to do away with a bevy of programs, such as those preventing teens from running away from home, the community policing program and a special DUI squad that last year arrested 900 drivers.

In addition, Gualtieri said, three free-standing facilities at the jail have been closed, reducing beds by 400.

Coats expects the cuts to affect his agency's ability to prevent crime, which could lead to an upswing.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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