Supervisors Approve Rate Hike To Save Law Enforcement

Riverside County supervisors agreed today to hike the rates charged to cities and other entities that contract with the county sheriff’s department for law enforcement services.

The rate increases, which will be retroactive to July 1, 2010, are needed to recoup the higher costs incurred by the department to provide services over the last year, according to Undersheriff Colleen Walker. “We only capture the full, actual costs,” she told the Board of Supervisors. “The state Government Code prohibits us from making a profit.”

The 17 cities that contract with the sheriff’s department were informed about the need for upward adjustments in March.

Some municipalities are struggling to maintain the same levels of service in the face of rising costs. In Canyon Lake, voters on June 7 will consider a ballot measure that would create new property assessments to fund law enforcement operations.

Supervisor Jeff Stone said he felt certain that next year cities, would see their costs stay flat or even decline, in part due to the county’s unilateral imposition Monday of contract terms on the 3,500-member Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, which represents deputies.

The union and county administrators have been in talks since January over a new collective bargaining agreement, but negotiations snagged in recent weeks, resulting in the county declaring an impasse.

The terms imposed by the Executive Office call for a 10 percent cut in salary and benefits, as well as a freeze on merit pay raises.

The terms remain in effect for a year, unless a compromise is reached after a resumption in negotiations.

Under the revised rate schedule approved by the board today, the cost of a sheriff’s patrol deputy will rise from $121.97 per hour to $125.37, a 2.8 percent jump from the previous year.

The cost of a sheriff’s patrol corporal will increase from $131.94 to $134.37 per hour, or about 2 percent; a sheriff’s lieutenant from $93.98 to $98.50 per hour, or 4.8 percent; and a sheriff’s captain from $108.61 to $111.13, about 2 percent.

According to sheriff’s officials, the cost of staff benefits, support and equipment are priced into the figures.

In a few cases, costs will be going down, with the hourly price of a 911 dispatcher falling from $42.60 to $36.60 per hour, and an investigative technician going from $41.89 to $40.91 per hour.

Ten cities and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians will be required to pay increased lump sum fees for the sheriff’s department’s use of facilities dedicated to servicing the communities.

The largest percentage increase will be borne by Menifee, which will be billed $341,408 in facilities costs, compared to $241,008 the previous year — a roughly 42 percent leap that sheriff’s officials attributed to pro rated charges added to recoup costs since the city’s incorporation in late 2008.

The city of Perris will bear the highest facilities fee: $458,286, down from $491,404 in the previous fiscal year.

Higher fees will also be imposed on the community service districts served by the department.

Sheriff Stan Sniff announced earlier this month that more than 500 patrol and correctional deputies could be pink-slipped to close a $30 million to $60 million deficit in the agency’s 2011-12 budget.

The layoffs would be concentrated in the unincorporated communities and the jails.