Full-Staffed = Short on Funds for the Bent County Sheriff's Budget

~Anne Boswell

Bent County Sheriff Jake Six explained his office isn't short staffed for the first time in a long time. And while that's good for responding to calls and to doing business, it wasn't expected. In fact, Sheriff Six said at Thursday's County Commissioner meeting, he's probably going to need to cut somewhere because he planned for the usual, being short staffed.

"Do I cut a patrol officer because you put me at $600,000 which I sent back the numbers and it's $40,000 short of having a full-time person....we do not always stay fully staffed, they budgeted for, on patrol especially, they budgeted for us to be short-staffed. We have not been short-staffed this year." Six said.

County Commissioner Jennifer Scofield told the Sheriff that was his decision and not theirs.

Six disagreed, "You kinda do, whenever it was cut down to $600,000 and I kept 12 people and I have a signed document that says there are 12 people in patrol and the money does not accommodate 12 people off our pay scale, it hasn't for two years."

Six further elaborated that he can cut a position but it would affect the city of Las Animas, who currently has an agreement with the Bent County Sheriff's office to cover calls in town. The town of Las Animas is preparing to have their own police department but they do not as of this date.

With the $40,000 deficit in the budget, Six fears he will not only have to cut but also will not be able to give his team an annual raise in compensation. Six demonstrated frustration when explaining this to the board.

"We knew that in January, I told y'all that in January, um you all were aware of that, so I know, I know that I'm responsible but I also have the [inaudible] to sue the commissioners if I need to, because it says that you must reasonably fund the deputies."

Six said the Bent County Sheriff's Office is currently the lowest paid law enforcement agency in Southeast Colorado.

The Sheriff said the jail is currently making extra funds from other counties housing their inmates at his jail.

Scofield reiterated that the budget and spending money is a process and wanted Six to just be aware of it.

"That doesn't cover it for this year, that helps it for next year, even if you bring in extra revenue that you weren't expecting, there's a huge process that we have to go through to re-allocate more money, I'm not saying that can't be done and can't be talked about."

Scofield wrapped up to tell Six that they wanted to have the conversation about raises and how it would affect his budget.

Commissioners also discussed the amount of overtime charged from the Bent County Sheriff's office. Recently, the county has implemented a new payroll software that tracks hours more efficiently.

Scofield said the board wasn't putting any blame on the Sheriff and wanted him to take responsibility for his budget.

Six brought up another item of frustration, his office paying the county to conduct background investigations at $200 each. He said he could do those a lot cheaper and they would be more thorough.

Commissioner Phil Hemphill suggested that it seems like these topics need further discussion during the county's budget session.

In wrapping the talk up, Six mentioned they will have some changes in the next year as Las Animas trains and launches their own police department.

"And when that happens, we need to figure out, if we cut any, are we going to be able to do this, this is going to be a taxing year of, I don't want to leave the city of Las Animas high and dry if it doesn't work, I hope it does, but that's a we'll see thing."

Six said he would discuss it more in depth with County Administrator Doug Bankert before presenting it to the board during budget talks.

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