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Sheriff White Proposes Salary Freezes

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By DAVID SOMMER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 31, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Sheriff Bob White would pare $1.1 million from his current $86 million budget and return an additional $1.5 million of unspent money from this year under the 2008-09 spending proposal he submitted to Pasco County officials Friday.

White had been asked to cut $7 million from his budget request to help cover an anticipated $17 million shortfall in overall county revenue as a result of Amendment 1, the statewide property tax cut approved by voters in January.

The sheriff also plans to freeze salaries at current levels while providing gap insurance to any employee who retires with 30 years of service, which had been a sore point in his ongoing dispute with the deputies' relatively new union, the Fraternal Order of Police.

County Commission Chairman Ted Schrader said the sheriff's proposed spending plan, for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, is a good starting point for negotiations that could last through the summer.

The county's directive that White slash $7 million from his budget was based on revenue projections from the state, Schrader said.

"We are at the right starting point," he said. "We are all cooperating together, and we recognize the mandate driven home by voters in January."

Schrader said White's proposed budget shows an improvement in attitude over last year, when the sheriff asked for an $11 million increase and settled for $3 million after protracted debate.

"I don't think it's going to be anywhere near as contentious as last year," Schrader said of the upcoming budget negotiations.

Asked whether he was trying to extend an olive branch to county officials, White said he is following the orders of voters who want leaner government and lower taxes.

"The people said: 'We don't want to pay more for services.' If we are going to serve them, we've got to obey their will," he said.

Detective John Connolly, president of FOP Lodge 29, welcomed the news of the gap insurance but chafed at the idea of the sheriff unilaterally freezing pay.

"I'm grateful he gave it to us. I hope it stays," Connolly said of White's plan to subsidize health insurance for retirees who are not old enough for Medicare. "What upsets me is he arbitrarily believes what he says is going to go. We've got a union, and he has to negotiate."

White said he pushed county officials to approve a line item for gap insurance because the county government provides it for its employees, including firefighters, and it is only fair that his deputies receive the same retirement benefit.

"It isn't about the union; it's about my guys, and if all county employees have it, my guys deserve the benefit," White said of the gap insurance that his budget estimates will cost about $50,000 for the first year.

The sheriff is under no legal obligation to negotiate salaries, and the union is prohibited from striking by state law.

White said he expects most deputies will understand the need to freeze the payroll in order to avoid layoffs.

"I think everybody expects it. I'm sure everyone is pleased right now to have a job," White said.

Undersheriff Al Nienhuis said the proposed budget is the leanest the office could come up with while preserving existing jobs and services. He said there is little room for error and that even the $1.5 million the sheriff plans to give back from this year could end up being spent if, for example, Pasco is hit by a major hurricane.

"We've got to think of every contingency that could happen between now and October 2009," when the next fiscal year ends, Nienhuis said.

White said any reduction of his almost $85 million proposed budget would require cutting programs, but he declined to be specific about what he characterized as "contingency plans in flux."

"Nothing I'm going to share with you today," White said when asked whether his mounted posse or Neighborhood Watch programs might be in danger of cuts.

However, he stressed that the core mission of enforcing the law will never fall to any budget ax.

White's proposed budget does not include an estimated $4.2 million needed to staff a new jail wing under construction in Land O' Lakes. It also leaves the cost of new cruisers and deputy laptops in the county's Penny for Pasco budget.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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