City budget talks focus on Sheriff

How much to pay the Donley County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services will be the center of discussion next Tuesday when Clarendon Aldermen meet in called session for a budget workshop.
The proposed city budget for 2010 calls for the contract with the county to be cut by more than 52 percent – from $130,000 down to $61,500, but Sheriff Butch Blackburn is asking for a $10,000 increase to $140,000.

Blackburn addressed the issue during last Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen and said doing with less would hurt his department, and he aimed criticism at City Administrator John Webb.

“I think Mr. Webb thinks I’m supposed to do this for free,” Blackburn said. “If we don’t have this contract, we can’t have 24-hour coverage. I will have to fire deputies.”

Absent the contract, Blackburn said his office would answer calls in the city, but he presented an attorney general’s opinion reinforcing the notion that the level of coverage is entirely the sheriff’s discretion.

Blackburn also said that he, the city administrator, County Judge Jack Hall, and Mayor Chris Ford all met on July 8 to discuss the contract, and there the $140,000 rate was proposed by him. He said he did not learn until the last week of July about the proposed cut and said the county has already filed its proposed budget in the clerk’s office.

The sheriff said he did not want to argue with the city and also proposed keeping the contract at $130,000 and instituting a plan that would increase the contract annually based on the percentage of raise given to city employees.

Alderman Will Thompson was the most vocal supporter of the sheriff’s department during the meeting.
“The primary thing a government should provide is protection for its citizens,” Thompson said. “If it doesn’t do that, it should not exist.”

Mayor Ford praised Blackburn for doing a good job and also praised Webb for bringing options to the table, namely the options of enhanced animal control and code enforcement in exchange for a reduction in the sheriff’s contract.

Webb discussed the closeness of the budget and said the proposed budget is only nine percent over the current budget.

“We have a tight budget,” Webb said, noting that the city has a lot of needs. “We have deplorable streets, deplorable water, deplorable sewer, and no drainage.”

Alderman Larry Hicks made a motion to set $140,000 as the budgeted amount for the sheriff, but City Secretary Linda Smith said such a motion was out of order based on the wording of the agenda.

Alderman Kyle Davis said he thought the board needed more time to consider the issue, and Hicks withdrew his motion.

The board directed Webb to prepare alternate budgets keeping the sheriff’s contract at $130,000 and increasing it to $140,000.

Those alternate plans will be discussed in a budget workshop in a called meeting on August 25 at 7 p.m.
In other city business, the board discussed the proposed tax rate for the coming year. Officials expressed confusion about the effective tax rate presented by the Donley Appraisal District. A motion was approved to set the ad valorem rate at $0.6271 per $100 valuation, but officials at City Hall this week said that motion may be rescinded when the board meets next time.