March 27--Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia says by balancing his department's $392 million budget, he'll be able to transfer 100 deputies from jail duties to crime-fighting jobs in the next year while hiring hundreds of new civilian jailers.
During a news conference Monday, Garcia said when he took office in January 2009 the department was spending $56 million more a year than approved by Commissioners Court. When the budget year ended Feb. 29, the department spent $2.8 million less than was budgeted.
"The budget was out of control," Garcia said. "I brought in executives from the business world and told them it was irresponsible to allow this to happen. I challenged them to fix it, and they did."
Garcia said the savings will allow him to begin filling 240 vacancies in the jail with civilian jailers. He said in the next 12 months they will transfer 100 deputies - 60 to patrol and 40 to investigations and court protection -- now assigned to jail duties.
However, Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack called Garcia's announcement "political hoopla" and "rhetoric," adding deputies could be moved immediately to patrol duty from assignments in the jail commissary or internal affairs.
"The perfect example of how he allocated resources is to have about a dozen deputies and two (K9) dogs to announce he was going to increase patrols. He should have had them out answering calls," Radack said, referring to officers standing behind Garcia outside a substation in north Harris County on Monday. "To make happen what he's announced today, he's going to have to significantly reduce overtime in the jail and other divisions, and he hasn't been able to do it to the degree that has to be done."
Cuts in overtime
Sheriff's spokesman Alan Bernstein said Garcia's internal affairs office has processed a backlog of disciplinary cases inherited from the previous sheriff, allowing deputies restricted to desk duty to return to work.
A countywide hiring freeze that began in October 2009 -- now lifted -- was among factors forcing the county to pay large amounts of mandatory overtime to legally staff the jails. Garcia said jail overtime payments, which reached a high of $40 million a year and totalled $20 million last year, can be cut to $15 million this fiscal year, which began in March 1.
"We've already brought overspending under control, now we're working to put more boots on the ground to keep Harris County safe and to continue to bring crime under control," Garcia said.
Money saving efforts
Jail spending was reduced in a various areas, including switching to generic drugs, reducing jail visitation days and contracting directly with doctors and other health providers, Garcia said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner El Franco Lee said the sheriff's office was one of the few county departments during the previous budget cycle to receive an increase.
"Commissioners Court has given him quite a bit of money to help balance his budget. The court also has given him some of the positions he has requested," Lee said in a statement. "If he's getting his budget down, he's been following the instructions of the budget office and Commissioners Court."
Fewer behind bars
Bernstein acknowledged during the county's budget process earlier this month that much of the department's success in curtailing spending was thanks to a drop in the jail population, which has fallen 30 percent since September 2008.
Garcia said when the 60 deputies are transferred from the jail, the patrol division will increase from 557 to 617 deputies -- still far below the 3,000 officers recommended to patrol an area with a population of nearly 1.5 million.
"It's gonna be great," said patrol division head Major R.D. "Ronnie" Silvio. "These guys (patrol deputies) are running their tails off out there on call after call after call. They don't have a lot of time to do proactive law enforcement."
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