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Main Page State takeover of sheriff's offices unlikely
(Click here to view the original thread on the MassCops Message Board)

Posted by: kwflatbed

By David Kibbe
Standard-Times staff writer

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to take over budgetary control of the remaining seven county-run sheriff's offices appears headed for certain defeat in the Legislature this year.
The Public Safety Committee is expected to send the bill to a "study" — akin to a legislative graveyard — citing a litany of unanswered questions about the proposal.
The state takeover would have affected Barnstable, Dukes, Nantucket, Bristol, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties. Barnstable County has been pushing for the idea as far back as 2000, but the Legislature has resisted taking on the financial burden.
"I think it's unlikely you'll see action other than a study on it at this point," the House chairman of the committee, Rep. Michael Costello, D-Newburyport, told State House News Service this week.
Rep. Costello said the only way the committee could meet a May 1 deadline to pass the overhaul was to do a quick redraft with the Patrick administration, which he deemed "impossible" by that date.
The Patrick administration said the change would save the seven counties $10 million starting in 2010 and give the sheriffs more certainty in budgeting. Currently, the seven sheriffs get money through six different funding sources, including a state appropriation and deeds excise taxes.
Most of the sheriffs have supported the concept, but they raised a host of concerns at a legislative hearing this month. Some feared the governor's plan would leave the counties with the responsibility of paying for current retirees with no funding source. There were other questions about the autonomy of the sheriff's office, and whether they would remain elected. Some sheriffs opposed turning over all their revenue to the state.
The governor's office has said the sheriffs would remain elected and they would control their departments.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson bristled at the Patrick administration's suggestion that more oversight was needed to save money for taxpayers.
He said his state appropriation was $5 million more in 2001 than it is today, but he has 500 more inmates and is short 80 positions.
"I don't know how much more efficient you can get with government," he said. "What benefit is the taxpayer really going to get out of it? Is it really a savings? My suggestion is it's absolutely not for the county to be swallowed up by a big bureaucracy."
Sheriff Hodgson said his employees, the lowest paid in the state, would also resist paying more for state health insurance and getting less in their plans.
"That will decimate my department," he said.
While Barnstable County Sheriff James Cummings supports the change, Nantucket Sheriff Richard Bretschneider has argued the island should be excluded. Sheriff Bretschneider has built a reserve fund of $7 million, with about $5 million now pledged to build a new public safety center.
"There were significant questions around the money that was being generated locally, the whole question of unfunded liabilities," said Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, who represents the Cape and Islands District. "It looked like the state was taking assets and leaving liabilities behind."
Sen. O'Leary wanted the committee to take more time to study the details before passing the bill.
"I think the unfortunate aspect of this is there is a general agreement that the way the sheriffs are financed is not well designed, and that it needs to be reformed, and just about anyone who is close to this thinks the state should take over the sheriffs," Sen. O'Leary said. "They should think it through, and they should do it in a way that does not put the counties and the remaining communities in a financial bind."
Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, was disappointed to learn the proposal would not move forward this session. It could be filed again in January.
"It just makes so much better sense that they come under (the state), just like all the other sheriffs," Sen. Murray said. "Then they know what their budgets are going to be. They know how much money they have."
The way the funding is set up now, Sen. Murray said, "they spend, then they come back and tell us they need more."
Another seven sheriff's offices are already in the state system, including Hampden, Worcester, Middlesex, Franklin, Hampshire, Essex and Berkshire.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/...NEWS/803260345

Posted by: Loyal

why not simply keep it simple ? Make the jails DOC facilities and leave it at that. The sheriff departments do nothing that can not be absorbed by existing agencies. Not to beat a dead horse, but their BCI departments are not essential. Local police who are worth anything take their own photographs and prints or can if they need to. No need for any of the non jail tasks that the sheriff departments try to involve themselves in. BTW - why do any of them have motorcycles, horse units and warrant teams ??

Posted by: MSP75

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loyal

BTW - why do any of them have motorcycles, horse units and warrant teams ??

politics

Posted by: 94c

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loyal

BTW - why do any of them have motorcycles, horse units and warrant teams ??

I know for a fact that they use the K-9's and Mounted Units for the dog and pony shows they put on.

Posted by: rg1283

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loyal

why not simply keep it simple ? Make the jails DOC facilities and leave it at that. The sheriff departments do nothing that can not be absorbed by existing agencies. Not to beat a dead horse, but their BCI departments are not essential. Local police who are worth anything take their own photographs and prints or can if they need to. No need for any of the non jail tasks that the sheriff departments try to involve themselves in. BTW - why do any of them have motorcycles, horse units and warrant teams ??

Holy Crap I actually AGREE with you!

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