Budget constraints affect East County

MANATEE COUNTY — Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube’s budget constraints can’t keep up with East County’s growth, and that’s a big concern for the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners.

At a budget workshop June 11, at the Manatee County Administration Center, Steube unveiled a $104.38 million expenditure budget for the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Steube’s current fiscal year spending budget is $99.38 million.

The expenditure budget is 5% more than last year’s budget, but lower than commissioners anticipated.
That’s because earlier this year, Steube informed commissioners he would seek a spending budget with a 7.8% when compared with the current fiscal year’s budget. That budget came with a price tag of $107 million.

Steube wants to add eight patrol officers at a cost of $1.1 million and four corrections officers at a cost of more than $334,000.

To offset that cost, Steube has applied for a grant that would fund $125,000 of each new patrol deputy’s pay for a three-year period.

But the grant isn’t secure, and Steube doesn’t know if it will come through.

“I’m competing with hundreds of other agencies for this grant,” Steube said.

The news concerned commissioners.

“According to the latest census numbers, the patrol presence we try to achieve is already way off,” Commissioner John Chappie said. “People are moving out east permanently. Tourist rates are sky high, and law enforcement is a key factor when dealing with all this.”

Steube agreed with commissioners, but expressed his frustration with budget constraints.

Commissioners expressed a willingness to work with Steube this summer during the budget process to free up more money for his department that could create more officer positions.

Lakewood Ranch resident Steve Vernon, who stepped to the podium to express his concerns, liked what he heard.

“Your first and highest responsibility of this commission is to provide for public safety of the citizens of Manatee County,” Vernon said. “The county has spent a lot of money on many items much less important than public safety.”

The 5% increase in the spending budget will give deputies a 3.5% to 4% pay increase and a 1.5% to 2% pay increase for supervisors, Steube said. It will also help pay for an additional $381,000 needed this year to make increased contributions to the state’s retirement system.

Raises, which commissioners approved last year, have lessened the turnover rates for deputies and kept Steube’s department competitive with nearby agencies.

Steube lost 43 deputy officers to turnover in 2011, but reported he’s only lost 15 officers this year. Eight of those officers retired.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]