Sheriff, chairman at odds

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By KATE THAYER

kthayer@kcchronicle.com

GENEVA - In his final months before retirement, Sheriff Kenneth Ramsey is taking issue with the County Board for budget plans for the next fiscal year.

Although County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said Monday that she was trying to trim the office's over-budget funds - which includes a $2 million command staff - Ramsey said she was doing so at the cost of public safety.

The fiscal 2007 budget, which begins Dec. 1, does not allow the sheriff's office to replace outgoing or already vacant upper-management officers.

Ramsey said this affected lower-level deputies, and already had new officers in field training that would have to lose their jobs Dec. 1.

McConnaughay disputes this.

"At no time was it [the board's] intention to cut front lines," she said. "It's common practice to reduce head count through attrition."

The two are at odds at a time when Ramsey will not be in office to carry out proposed budget plans, and he notes that he hasn't received funds for more deputies on the street in eight years.

McConnaughay said the command staff put in place by Ramsey could be the reason for fiscal problems in the office.

There are about 20 officers that make up the command staff, and cost $2 million in salary, she said. McConnaughay said the sheriff's office was more than $63,000 over budget.

"These are the resources being taken off the street. Maybe getting rid of a $2 million command staff might change that," she said. "To reduce the high-salaried management ... allows a new sheriff to come in and reassign."

McConnaughay said one sergeant and four upper-management officers, such as commanders, were not accounted for in the 2007 budget. These officers either have plans to retire or leave the office, or already have left.

She also disputed claims that the new budget would concern unions because management officers are not a part of a union.

Detective Dennis Carroll, union president, said that because Ramsey already had filled the vacant upper-management positions, the board's budget plan would prompt layoffs at the deputy level.

"That's all you can do; you'd have to lay off," he said, adding that procedure dictated a reverse-seniority lay-off process.

Of the six positions removed from the budget, two were assigned to the jail, McConnaughay said, adding that a budget set up for transition into the new jail provided five new corrections officers. The new jail is expected to be complete in 2008.

McConnaughay said Ramsey should not be making any new hires as his retirement approaches. Ramsey retires Nov. 30. Lt. Kevin Williams and Sgt. Pat Perez are running for the position in the Nov. 7 election.

"Give new management the opportunity to restructure," McConnaughay said. "Both candidates recognize the command staff is top heavy."

Perez has stated his intentions to thin the high-ranking lines in the office.

He reiterated that intention Monday but said he could not comment on the proposed budget until he has further details.

Williams did not return phone calls Monday, but has said that he planned to restructure should he be elected.

McConnaughay said that once the new sheriff was in office, he could request funds from the board if there was a need for more personnel.

"I want my community and my home and my family to be safe, but at the same time, I want it to be done by people who act responsibly with my tax dollars," she said. "I also want to know that the elected officials ... that manage tax dollars will do so responsibly."

McConnaughay said there was "room for improvement" in the sheriff's office's budgeting practices.

Ramsey can appeal the budget, and he said he was working with his attorney to investigate the board's right to slash funds.

He said there could be internal control issues, and McConnaughay disagrees.

"This is a blatant attack on an elected office," Ramsey said, adding that McConnaughay wanted to "control" several aspects of the budget, including new hires.

Ramsey noted that he had not received funds for new deputies since 1998, but the rural population of the county - the office's jurisdiction - has grown by 100,000.

This created longer response times and the safety of the county, Ramsey said.

"We're getting stretched thinner and thinner," he said.

Ramsey also took issue with the creation of a fund for the dispatch center, saying it now will be controlled by the county instead of the office.

McConnaughay said it remained under the sheriff's budget, but was just a separate fund.