Board authorizes RivCo Sheriff to hike rates for services in contract cities

The Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's request to hike the blanket rate charged to 16 cities and other contract entities for the use of patrol deputies and support services.   

The board authorized the sheriff to implement a 2.45% increase in the base hourly rate charged for the use of patrol personnel. The augmentation, which officials said is needed to recoup higher costs incurred by the department, is retroactive to July 1, 2023.

Under the revised rate schedule, the cost of a sheriff's patrol deputy will rise from $209.35 per hour to $214.47 per hour.   

"This kind of increase is not unusual with increases in pensions, wages and other costs,'' Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said, adding he expected to hear from representatives of municipalities within his First District complaining about the added pressure to their budgets because of higher costs for law enforcement services.   

However, he noted that cities continue to receive the benefit of helicopter patrols, robbery and homicide investigations, SWAT unit and bomb squad responses without having to foot the bills individually. He asked Undersheriff Don Sharp whether any efforts were afoot to change that practice and disburden the sheriff's office from having to carry the other costs without seeking reimbursement.

Sharp replied that no such efforts were underway, and the provisions will remain available "to all citizens'' countywide, including sometimes municipalities that don't contract with the agency.  

"Each year, the Sheriff's Department does an analysis of just its patrol operations and determines real costs effectively through its sheer size,'' according to an agency statement posted to the board's agenda. "The fully supported contract law enforcement rates include the entire systemic costs involving the running of a (law enforcement) department.''   

Last year's hike was 1.63%, driven in part by greater pension obligations and salary increases obtained by the Riverside Sheriffs Association for the several thousand deputies it represents, and the costs of increased pensions and salary hikes for executive-level personnel represented by the Law Enforcement Management Unit.   

In 2015, a 7% hike prompted an outcry from elected and non-elected officials in Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Palm Desert and Temecula, who challenged the justification for such a significant upward adjustment. They protested that law enforcement expenses were draining their budgets and needed to be capped.   

The objections led to a two-year assessment of sheriff's operations conducted by Netherlands-based professional services firm KPMG, at a cost of nearly $40 million. After the company's audit and recommendations, some sheriff's management practices were changed, and adjustments were made to deputies' schedules and assignments at several stations to save money.   

However, the KPMG work was criticized by the Riverside County Grand Jury and other sources as excessively expensive with very limited results.   

The city of Menifee in 2020 abrogated its contract with the county for law enforcement and formed a stand-alone police department.   

In addition to the hike in patrol deputy rates, the board signed off on the sheriff's request that the 16 municipalities under contract with the county for law enforcement services be required to pay higher or lower sums for the sheriff's use of facilities dedicated to servicing the communities.

Officials said heftier bills generally stem from county Department of Facilities Management costs to maintain stations, including lights, waterworks, landscaping and custodial operations. The sheriff initially carries the expenses, then passes them on to the contracting parties, each of which is invoiced in proportion to how much it consumes.   

The largest percentage increase in facilities costs will be borne by Jurupa Valley, which is facing a $395,217 bill, compared to $328,619 the previous fiscal year -- a roughly 20% jump.

Perris will bear the highest facilities fee in dollars and cents: $593,642. That's a 2.6% increase from the previous fiscal year, when the city shelled out $578,385.  

Other cities -- Calimesa, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and Temecula -- will net savings in facilities charges for the current fiscal year.