N.M. County Will Consider Hiring 20 More Deputies

May 21--The number of sheriff's deputies patrolling unincorporated Bernalillo County would climb about 15 percent under a budget proposal headed to the County Commission on Tuesday, sheriff's officials say.

The extra 20 deputies -- 10 for the budget year starting this summer, another 10 the following year -- would be the first major expansion of the force in a decade, Sheriff Dan Houston said.

"This is a public-safety issue, and I think it does take precedence" over other proposals, Houston said in an interview. "This is a reasonable request."

The deputies are part of a $22 million budget proposal for "expansion" items -- new money sought by county departments for everything from hiring extra custodians to upgrading software and bathrooms. County commissioners are expected to consider the request Tuesday.

Approval is no sure thing, given the economic pressure on government revenue.

County Commission Chairman Art De La Cruz said he is approaching each request with skepticism. For the sheriff's proposal, De La Cruz said, he wants national data on how many deputies other communities employ on a per-capita basis.

"To say we're understaffed, we need something we can compare against," he said.

According to U.S. Census data, the portion of Bernalillo County's population living outside Albuquerque city limits grew about 8 percent in a recent 10-year period, from 108,071 people in 2000 to 116,712 in 2010.

That's about 414 people for each of the 282 sheriff's deputies already authorized in the budget.

The city of Albuquerque's budget includes funding for 1,100 police officers. That's one for every 496 residents. The city's 2010 population was 545,852, according to the Census.

Budget requests

Among the biggest budget requests going before commissioners:

Nearly $6.1 million for the Information Technology Department to upgrade computer software and equipment throughout the county and convert five temporary jobs into permanent ones.

$4.1 million for 10 new sheriff's deputies, their vehicles and equipment, 38 new Ford Explorers for other deputies and operating two helicopters. The other 10 deputies would be hired the following fiscal year.

$3.3 million for technology upgrades in the Metropolitan Detention Center and polygraph and psychological testing for new recruits.

$1.9 million to replace heavy equipment in the Fire and Rescue Department.

$1.9 million to replace 94 vehicles in the county fleet and convert some temporary workers into regular employees.

The proposed expansion items would be in addition to $230 million in general-fund spending approved by commissioners earlier this month, although in some cases, the costs overlap. Some of the expansion items, for example, call for converting temporary jobs into permanent positions, which doesn't actually increase county spending because the employees' pay remains the same.

The budget doesn't have any layoffs, tax increases or changes in operating hours for county services, the county administration said.

The expansion items, if approved, would cost about $22 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. About $4.9 million of that would be recurring, rather than one-time, costs. The recurring costs are mostly a result of converting temporary jobs into regular positions, officials said.

The last employee pay raises came about two years ago, according to the county administration. The county wouldn't say whether any are likely this summer.

"The county administration is currently in the process of union negotiations and it would be premature to discuss pay raises at this time," county spokeswoman Tia Bland said.

'Out of balance'

Houston said his department operates on a budget that's less than half of the $70 million earmarked for the jail each year. The disparity raises the question, he said, of whether the county is spending more on the "offender than the victim."

"It's certainly, in my opinion, out of balance," Houston said.

Houston envisions putting the extra 20 deputies on patrol where they'd be available to take calls. About 130 deputies are doing that now, so the number would climb to around 150, he said.

It takes about a year to get new deputies hired, trained and on the streets, Houston said, so the impact may not come for another two or three years.

The department now has 282 deputies altogether, Houston said. Adding another 20 should help reduce overtime, he said.

The deputies who aren't typically available for regular calls are in specialized units, where they focus on specific kinds of investigations or lawenforcement duties, officials said. There are, for instance, units for homicide, violent crimes DWI and the training academy.

C ou nt y C om m i s sioner Wayne Johnson noted that the county recently authorized about 100 additional corrections officers for the jail, which he said doesn't make the community at large any safer.

"I think it's high time we look at adding to our sheriff's office deputies' staffing," he said.

Copyright 2012 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.