Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
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Friday, January 15, 2010
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Outgoing Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine said he had no choice when he proposed deep cuts to law enforcement agencies while trying to balance the state budget.
“I didn’t want to” propose the cuts, “but I had to this round,” Kaine said Thursday.
Public safety/law enforcement, schools and Medicaid are the state’s three biggest expenses, he said.
“I had already cut Medicaid and schools. I had no where else to go,” Kaine said Thursday during an appearance at the Virginia Museum of Natural History to announce biomass and waste-to-energy grants.
He added that there is no good time to cut public safety or other core services but as governor, he is required to balance the state budget.
Kaine acknowledged the cuts to law enforcement agencies may be disproportionate.
The cuts proposed for fiscal 2011 “are more significant than in the past,” he said. The proposed reductions “are a little higher because they (law enforcement) were not cut in the last couple of years.”
Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry said his office could lose 22 percent of its funding, or more than $1.2 million, if Kaine’s proposal is approved.
If the full reduction is taken in personnel, 27 officers could lose their positions, according to Henry County Sheriff’s Maj. Steve Eanes. There are 123 employees in the department.
Martinsville Sheriff Steve Draper also is facing cuts, as is the Martinsville Police Department, according to City Manager Clarence Monday.
“I think we’ll be OK through the end of this year, but next year is a big concern,” Draper said of fiscal 2011, which begins July 1.
If Kaine’s proposal is not changed, Draper estimated he stands to lose about 15.5 percent of his current budget, not including reductions in per diem reimbursements.
Draper said he does not yet know how those cuts would be made.
“We have more questions than answers” at this point, he added.
Even without the per diem reduction, Draper could lose seven to 10 positions, he said.
Because he has held off filling two vacant positions created by retirement, the number of personnel cuts might drop to five to seven positions, he added.
Another sticking point of Kaine’s proposal is the “way the budget is proposed, it’s not just cutting expenses, but changing (staffing) formulas,” said Draper.
Kaine proposed increasing the deputy to resident ratio from one deputy for each 1,500 residents to one for each 2,000 residents, according to Draper.
“That’s not a cut. That’s changing your staffing formula,” he said. The General Assembly would have to approve such a change.
The city sheriff’s nearly $2 million budget is considerably lower than the $8 million budget in the county, but Draper explained that the city office provides only mandated services of maintaining the jail, providing court security and civil process (serving papers).
The Martinsville Police Department, which is partially funded by state 599 funds and the city, provides law enforcement services.
City Manager Clarence Monday said he expects to lose about $200,000 in 599 funding in the rest of this fiscal year, through June 30. He does not know the amount of the reduction in 2011, but speculated it could be another $200,000 based on the amount of the two cuts so far this year.
Monday also does not know if the city will be able to make up the difference.
“We will have to make some cuts somewhere,” he said. He would not rule out making some of those cuts to the police department’s $3 million budget. |
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