As this election cycle continues on I have been exposed to several opinion pieces and have heard rhetoric about the Sheriff’s Office go unanswered. I think Sheriff Whitney has done an excellent job of taking the high road while disgruntled ex-employees speak half-truths or no truth at all and support another candidate so they might get their way.
Once again we hear about overtime. As a tax payer I wanted
to understand more about
the Sheriff’s Office Budget and
overtime so I did a little research and
found out the following;. To be clear
the number of overtime hours at the Sheriff’s office has been relatively
flat for about 10 years , and under the
leadership of Sheriff Whitney has varied less than five percent a year and one
year had a variance of only one percent. This means that year to year the total
number of overtime hours available for staff to work has been pretty much the
same. (Interestingly, the last six years before retirement, Sheriff Whitney 's opponent made the following
earnings:
-2013 Base $104,615 Total earnings $144,383
-2012 Base $104,615 Total earnings $138,619
-2011 Base $104,615 Total earnings $136,363
-2010 Base $89,701 Total earnings $134,058
-2009 Base $86,251 Total earnings $137,204
-2008 Base $78,932 Total earnings $111,751
That's $233,649 in OT in 6 years or an average of $38,941
per year.
This information is not from an anonymous source but from
See Through NY. Looks like the Sheriff's opponent took advantage of lots of
overtime to boost his retirement and was not mindful of the tax payers.
Just over 30 percent of all of the overtime at the Sheriff’s
Office is awarded to staff for just coming to work on their regular scheduled
day. This is not an attack on staff or the contract; it is merely an
acknowledgment of a fact. Also under the current contract transports to and
from courts, drug treatment programs or hospital visits all must be offered to
full time employees before offering the shifts to part time employees; Again
not an attack just acknowledgment. I think it is also pretty important to point
out that the Sheriff receives about $200,000.00, or just about 15% of the total
overtime budget, in reimbursement for federal transports. In an agency that
generates $2.4 Million in revenue, has 150 employees, has staffing levels set
by the state for both the jail and the court system, and runs 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, I think the Sheriff has done a good job during his tenure.
As a former Department head at Allegany County I am well
aware of how the budget process works. Starting in June department heads and
their staff put together an estimate of needed funding for the following year
based on guidelines from the County Administrator. In the budget process there
are some knowns and some unknowns. You do your best for the taxpayers of
Allegany County. In July the Budget Officer and Deputy Budget Officer (County
Administrator and County Treasurer) review the proposed budgets submitted by
the Department Heads and propose changes. In August, the Department heads
appear before the Budget Committee to justify their proposed budget, discuss
proposed changes or propose further or different cuts based on updated
information. This is a very comprehensive process where the Legislators get to
have their say. The Tentative budget is prepared and reviewed by the budget
officers and the Legislature where changes can still be made before the Public
Hearing, finalizing and approval of the budget by the County Legislature. I
mention all of this because the Sheriff has prepared a budget each year and has
had his budget amended and refined with input from the county. He still comes in under budget because he
works hard to do so.
I would like to say that I'm supporting Sheriff Whitney for
re-election and I encourage you to vote for him at the Primary Election on Thursday
September 13, 2018. The polls are open from Noon- 9:00 p.m.
