EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 With just days left in the El Paso County fiscal year, county commissioners are facing a projected nearly $6 million deficit in the El Paso County Sheriff\u2019s Office budget \u2014 a shortfall that has grown by millions of dollars in just over a month.<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s office is now projected to have a $5.9 million deficit. <\/p>\n
The projected deficit has climbed steadily since August, according to figures presented by the county: $2.5 million on Aug. 24, $4.1 million on Aug. 31, $4.6 million on Sept. 14, and now $5.9 million.<\/p>\n
El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte said the office is struggling with funding and staffing levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re not properly funded. We’re not properly staffed. That’s something that I’ve been communicating with the court,\u201d Ugarte said.<\/p>\n
RECOMMENDED: Sheriff\u2019s Office projects $5.9M deficit with 10 days left in fiscal year<\/a><\/p>\n Ugarte said overtime is one of the main drivers of the deficit, with much of it tied to the detention facility.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the overtime that the sheriff’s office uses is in the detention facility. We believe that the sheriff’s office is not properly staffed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ugarte said staffing gaps mean overtime is needed to cover training, sick leave, military leave and inmate hospital transports. <\/p>\n He also said that while many people apply for jobs, some do not make it through the hiring process.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does take a process. A lot of people do apply, but they have to go through the hiring process, which is a test, you know, a polygraph test, a background and a lot of them don’t make it,\u201d Ugarte said.<\/p>\n Ugarte also said the sheriff\u2019s office loses some detention officers to other law enforcement agencies that pay more.<\/p>\n County Commissioner Illiana Holguin said the county wants the sheriff\u2019s office to work more closely with the county\u2019s budget department to avoid a similar situation next year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely don’t want to find ourselves in the same situation next year with next year’s budget. So we’ve requested and the sheriff has agreed to work much more closely with the county’s budget department,\u201d Holguin said.<\/p>\n Holguin said the county will have to address the shortfall, including paying for overtime that has already been worked.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are salaries for employees of the sheriff’s office that have already worked. So the answer is not that we’re not going to pay it. We have to pay it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n