El Paso County Sheriff’s Office projected budget deficit balloons to $4M

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — More expenses have County officials projecting the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office will end the fiscal year with a greater deficit than previously estimated.

 El Paso County Sheriff’s Office projected deficit grows to $3.5M 

In one week, the projected deficit rose by half a million dollars to $4.1 million, County officials announced during the Commissioners Court meeting on Monday, Aug. 31. This is the second time the projected deficit has increased since the commissioners began receiving weekly updates on the sheriff’s budget.

“It’s exceeding the authority the court has issued the sheriff’s office,” Betsy Keller, the County’s chief administrator, told the Commissioners Court.

With $9 million left until the end of the fiscal year, the Commissioners Court also unanimously approved a $1.5 million transfer from the County’s Operations Budget to cover a contingency on meals provided at the jails. The court also approved moving $27,000 from the courthouse security fund to pay for Sheriff’s Office ballistic shields.

The Sheriff’s Office salaries, overtime and meals at the jail have driven the projected deficit this year. El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte has said his office has used overtime to meet staffing needs for law enforcement operations and to maintain the jails.

Carmen Arrieta Candelaria, the county’s budget and finance director, told Commissioners Court her office will have to wait and see if grant funding will cover some expenses at the end of the fiscal year as well.

“We have met with the Sheriff’s Office; he has indicated to us that he is looking at every expenditure that does come through to make sure it’s actually necessary, as well as the salaries,” Arrieta Candelaria said. “We meet with him regularly to make sure that all the expenses that are coming through are necessary in order to try to hold the line.”

Commissioner Jackie Butler expressed her concerns about the consistent rise in the department’s projected budget deficit.

“The line keeps going up,” Butler said.

EPCSO officials say overtime costs are driving spending, but so are costs.

“In order to address that, what I’ve done is, I’ve directed the Downtown Jail to reduce the number of federal inmates we have to get it down to where 1 to 48 is required by the state,” Chief Deputy Patrick Gailey told the Commissioners Court. “So, we don’t have to bring in 12 officers. We brought in 12 officers on overtime this past month. Basically, six per shift just to meet state requirements.”

Gailey told the Commissioners Court he has postponed requests on expenses for transportation and busing into next year’s budget.

“We’ll continue to fight to reduce the overtime,” he said. “At the same time, we have public safety and safety of personnel, as well as that of the inmates we have to take into account.”

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