Around Pinal: Sheriff, county leaders go at it
Babeu wins battle with supervisors over new investigator positions, fuel costs
By BRIAN WRIGHT
Staff Writer
Despite some spirited disagreement, mostly between Babeu and supervisor David Snider, and hesitation on the part of some supervisors, a request by Babeu to promote four deputies to investigators, with an additional expense of $16,000 by June 30, was approved 2-1.
Babeu said the $16,000 will be paid through RICO funds, or money the Sheriff’s Office seizes from drug smuggling and other criminal activities. However, future annual expenses due to the promotions will be $22,584, and that will be covered by the county budget.
Babeu said the responsibilities and qualifications of an investigator exceed that of a deputy, and that the human resources policy in Pinal County mandates a “specialty assignment pay” increase of 5 percent.
“We’re coming forward to say we have the money to do this for this fiscal year, and for subsequent years, that would be an obligation of the county,” Babeu said.
Snider was upset that Babeu came before the supervisors with the request for additional funding a little more than a year after the board initially approved four new deputy positions. He said it shouldn’t have taken that long to modify the positions. Babeu said it normally takes about a year to train a sheriff’s deputy, so the time line wasn’t out of order.
Babeu took exception to Snider’s insinuation that he wasn’t doing enough with the new manpower approved by the supervisors. He said that not only did the PCSO add those four positions, but it also added more through state funds.
“What has resulted in that [is] our agency led the largest historic bust for the state of Arizona — a two to three-billion-dollar bust against the Sinaloa Cartel,” he said. “That happened not because we didn’t have these [new deputies]; we now have 24 positions when we started out with three because we realigned these resources.”
“It’s a mischaracterization to say we haven’t done the things the board [intended]. I have added additional resources and additional monies to bring the heaviest hand of enforcement.”
When the four deputies were first accounted for in the budget, the “specialty pay” was mistakenly omitted by Babeu. He took responsibility for the oversight, and supervisor Bryan Martyn said Babeu did the right thing by agreeing to fund the expenses for the remainder of the year. For the following years, Martyn said the county is responsible to fund those monies.
Supervisor Pete Rios, who has had a contentious relationship with Babeu, said because of the county’s current tight budget, he didn’t support the additional annual expense, and he cast the lone dissenting vote. Rios also wasn’t ready to cut the PCSO any slack because he said it has already gone about $700,000 over its budget due to fuel costs and overtime expenditures.
Babeu said the budget for fuel hasn’t been adjusted the last three years, even though the price of gasoline skyrocketed. He added that the wide-open nature of Pinal County requires his officers to drive long distances to do their jobs.
“Does the board actually want to take the position we’re not going to answer certain calls — we’re not going to be out on patrol?” Babeu asked. “Clearly, there has to be an adjustment; those requests have been made.”
Acknowledging the current overages, Babeu said the budget problem is far less severe than when he took office on Jan. 1, 2009.
Snider said he was “conflicted” on the issue but eventually decided to vote with Martyn and approve the item.
“I’m concerned about the future obligation of general fund money,” Snider said.
Also on the meeting agenda was Babeu’s request to reallocate $45,832 of the existing general fund patrol budget to cover the cost of a new vehicle, a 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe, for command staff operations. The supervisors voted 3-0 to approve the transfer of funds.
