Sheriff Matt Kendall appeared before a receptive Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to explain why he wants more money in the next fiscal year, July 2025 to June 2026.
Referring to his present budget, Kendall said: “We are pretty darn close to perfect from what we were given,” meaning, apparently, that he is more or less on budget for this fiscal year.
“But as we move into these things,” Kendall continued in his homespun “Irish country sheriff” style, “it seems like the price of doing business has gone up, but the profit we get from doing business is gone down.”
We’re not sure how the law enforcement business generates a “profit,” but then we’re not trained officers with stripes on our sleeves.
Kendall said he expects to spend about $2.3 million in overtime for patrol and about $1.3 million in overtime for the jail this year — an amount that appears to be substantially over budget, but Sheriff’s office overtime is overbudget every year.
Why so much overtime?
Kendall said that it’s because some of the arrestees are sick: “People who are coming into the jail are not as healthy as they were 30 years ago. They simply aren’t. When a patrol car goes out in the middle of the night and has to take someone to the hospital or something like that, some of these folks are two-man moves. Then we have to lock down the jail or call people in.”
Hopefully, that doesn’t happen all that often.
“Our top five expenditures for overtime are all related to staffing levels,” Kendall continued, stating the obvious. “Staffing levels are coming up. But we gain three and we lose two. That’s just the way this game seems to be played nowadays.”
The Sheriff didn’t provide any reasons why two cops leave for every three that are hired. Presumably, it’s not pay like it used to be because the County gave law enforcement pretty big raises in their last contract.
“So our top five are staffing shortages, when we have to backfill for staffing shortages, and keep enough patrol cars on the street and sometimes we are backfilling with one deputy sheriff to handle an entire area. In the north sector there are times when we have to do that because that’s all that we have.”
Which would imply lower cost, uncomfortable as that may be when it happens.
“Mandated jail duties — we have to have so many personnel working. Trust me, if we ever got to a moment in time when the jail commander, Captain Van Patten, said we have to close down the jail because nobody’s committing crime we would all jump for joy. I think that is something we should work towards as a society. Get the problems worked out so that nobody goes to jail and crime disappears. Trust me, I have plenty of things I can do in retirement. I wouldn’t need to be here any longer.”
This amusing fantasy about crime suddenly disappearing doesn’t have anything to do with the Sheriff’s budget.
“Next would be staffing backfill for comp time and vacation time and things like that,” continued Kendall. “I don’t have indentured servants. They do get some time off. And occasionally I have to send them to training. You either pay for training or you pay for the lawsuit when someone is not trained.
Yes, but as it applies to the budget, that’s always been the case. Training and comp time are not new budget factors. We concede that cops are not slaves with badges.
“Shift extensions due to calls,” Sheriff Kendall added. “When we have calls for service and investigations and they begin or they are going on at noon and when they happen in the Round Valley area or the Point Arena area — these out-of-the-way places. Sometimes these deputies come to work at 6 o’clock in the morning and they catch a hot call at noon and they don’t get home until midnight because there is nobody to relieve them and they have begun that investigation. And then extension of shifts for reports. When we get done, we have to have a report in to the District Attorney and some of these are urgent because he’s going to be arraigning them the next day. If we don’t turn those reports in, that subject is released.. And more people are victimized.”
Again, all true. And interesting. But how do these routine patrol tasks, none of which are expected to significantly increase next year, translate to large budget increases?
Kendall acknowledged that some presumably money-saving efficiencies have been adopted.
“We have made progress in some areas. The District Attorney and our Public Defender are working together for a lot of the video arraignments and things like that and that lowers the price of transportation. My hat is off to the District Attorney and the Public Defender because they are working with us to get these things done.”
Kendall then backtracked: “But we still have to pay for deputies who work night shift to show up and go to court on day shift. We have no say in who gets subpoenaed and who does not. That’s a function of the courts.”
Also, standard, routine staffing factors, no big change expected. We’ve known deputies in the past who avoid giving traffic tickets specifically to avoid day-long court appearances.
The Sheriff then went off topic into some political remarks about California’s stifling bureaucracy and the complexity of timber harvest plans these days, and the cutting down of trees being perceived as evil and so forth. He described the marijuana situation as “a 50 year boom that has now become a bust.” Kendall also complained about “too much reliance on the government.”
With a near-non-sequitur Kendall added that “One of the things we are looking at is that we will not be asking for funding for positions we cannot fill.”
Kendall said he and his staff are working “every single day trying to get these numbers down. We want to be good partners with the CEO’s office. We want to be good partners with the board. Law-enforcement and public safety is probably the single most expensive thing you folks [the Supervisors] are looking at and human resources [personnel] are the biggest expense. But we have to have the best of the best because if you don’t, you can pay me now or pay me later. But if you pay me later that comes with interest and that’s in lawsuits and loss of public trust. We cannot have that. So let’s continue to work together on these things.”
Except for the initial mention of those higher than average overtime costs, Kendall avoided specific numbers, preferring to describe the routine tasks deputies must perform, none of which are new or significantly increased.
Supervisor Ted Williams then asked Sheriff Kendall, “What is your projected increase in this next budget cycle, next fiscal year, just rounded to $1 million?”
Kendall replied, “Right now somewhere between $7 and $10 million, more or less. It could be a heck of a lot more. And it’s a frightening thought to look at.”
Especially frightening since we still don’t know how the routine law enforcement tasks and already high salaries the Sheriff’s staff have already received translate to such a huge increase next year. As the County faces dwindling revenues and increased costs in other areas, how they can absorb or afford a $7 to $10 million increase for the Sheriff and the Jail (which is expected to be opening the new mental health wing sometime next year) remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, nobody on the Board expressed any interest in why the Sheriff’s projected cost increase is so large.
SHERIFF KENDALL:
Alright Major let me set a couple things straight from your reporting yesterday.
Overtime: What I said was we are on track with the budgeted overtime in the jail and on patrol. We budgeted $2.3 million for patrol and 1.3 million for the jail and are tracking to be on budget. We may be a little over in the jail. This is because we were funded the amount we needed last year.
Inmate health is a huge issue in Mendocino County. We have many trips per week to the emergency room for inmates who suffer from a lifetime of addiction and abuse of their bodies. Many of these folks are classified as “two-deputy movement” because of assaultive nature. This causes us to call people in for coverage to meet the mandated staffing levels. This is a constant issue.
Three steps forward and two steps back? Well that’s because many recruits don’t successfully get through training. We have also had a lot of deputies simply decide to leave the state of California, I just received the resignation of a deputy who is moving to Arizona. I have also released people over discipline and we always have those folks who train here and head to another county for big pay increases.
“It seems like the price of doing business has gone up, but the profit we get from doing business is gone down.” I was referring to county revenue sources, also criminal fines which were once handed down upon conviction which are almost non-existent compared to many years past.
The massive increase in our budget ask this coming year is based on the fact we will need to add employees for the new wing of the jail and the contracts [raises] which were implemented for employees.
We are working hard to get the numbers down and find a budget we can live with. It’s not easy when we have big bills and small revenues, but we will get there.
Stay tuned as we work through this and hopefully we can find some kind of industry that would allow our county to thrive again.
Sheriff Kendall says the cost of doing business is going up but our revenues are going down. It has been that way since I started my Law Enforcement career with MCSO in 1978. There was never enough money to fully staff the allocated positions. We had the positions but could never fill them, and if we did we would have been over budget. Allocating the positions is not the same as being able to fund the positions.
As for keeping employees (Deputy Sheriffs) working for the county, well let’s ask ourselves why a 55 min vehicle ride south to Santa Rosa increases ones monthly pay 2k more a month with better working conditions, better benefits, more backup when needed, better vehicles, multiple advancement opportunities and the list goes on. Let’s face it- it’s hard to compete for that great candidate, but I know from experience that MCSO does just that, or it did when I was there. I can’t imagine Sheriff Kendall would support anything less.
We need a STRONG law enforcement here in Mendocino County. We have all seen the crime influx from our neighboring cities moving north- let’s be prepared. Increase the Sheriff’s budget inorder to keep our trained people here and intice others to join.
So we need strong law-enforcement here is that what you’re saying well, it seems pretty strong to me because lot of times they just end up killing the people that they arrest. That’s what I’ve observed. I don’t see how they get away with it , either their taser Happy or they don’t give a shit, oh wait a minute so they need more money to cover their ass after they accidentally killed somebody or on purpose think about it I don’t know it just seems like there’s been way too many people that have been harmed by the Mendocino county law enforcement doesn’t sit right with me
When’s the last time a Mendo cop killed someone? Or even tazed a berserk tweeker? I think they do an amazing job, especially in this imploding society wherein the police also have mental health responsibilities.
Agreed.
“lot of times they just end up killing the people that they arrest. “
Thousands of contacts and arrests every year and very rarely do they have a shooting or cop involved death. So I don’t know where “lots of times” comes in. Obviously an uneducated person spouted non truths to continue their anti-cop agenda.
Ive had plenty of run ins with the law mostly when I was in my teens and twenties. I found they mirrored what I was showing them. If I wanted a fight, I got one and if I ran into the same cop the next month and wanted to visit, we visited. I was treated the way I chose to be treated. The ball seemed to be in my court.
Luckily I matured past those times but I remember them. I can honestly say I was never treated poorly by a cop in Mendo. Not sure they would say the same about me but hey I was young. Everyone who gets hemmed up by the cops here should be forced to watch a replay of how they were acting before the cops showed up. That would probably be a great lesson learned.
I’ve lived in Fort Bragg, Mendocino County for over fifty years and seen many changes in our society but the one constant in all of these changes is the highly professional and friendly performance of law enforcement officers, both mcso and fort Bragg PD! It’s a tough and sometimes thankless job and in my opinion we’re getting our money’s worth year after year! Thank you all and carry on with the continued excellence.
Keep at it Matt. The community needs you and your colleagues service’s.
+1
The real sticker shock is scrolling through the 2023 compensation data for Mendo County employees on the Transparent California website.