supervisors use 97% of Federal covid money to pay Sheriff's Dept Salaries (Sacramento: how much, house)

[2sleepy]

The reason given is to 'improve the cash flow', I think the reality is that they are broke from paying off the Sheriff's lawsuits and used this to plug the hole in the budget that created

Sacramento County has spent the vast majority of its federal coronavirus relief funds so far towards covering its Sheriff’s Office payroll, and the salaries and benefits of other public safety officers.

As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act signed in March, Sacramento County received $181 million to fund necessary programs or expenses tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, or to pay for new expenses that have come up or were not planned for in the budget.

Of the nearly $148 million that the county has already spent in the last few months, more than $104 million went toward paying for salaries and benefits in the Sheriff’s Office, according to a county staff report. Another nearly $21.5 million and about $1.8 million went to the payroll and benefits of probation officers and park rangers, respectively.

The county spent less than 3% of the federal money during the last fiscal year toward public health and medical expenses. About $4 million went toward buying more personal protective equipment such as masks and hand sanitizer.

Just under $10,000 went toward contact-tracing efforts — a critical means of tracking and containing the spread of the virus that California still struggles with https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/ar...44813632.html?.

[shelato]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

The reason given is to 'improve the cash flow', I think the reality is that they are broke from paying off the Sheriff's lawsuits and used this to plug the hole in the budget that created

Do we know how money was spent on policing the Black Lives Matter looting/protests?

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by shelato

Do we know how money was spent on policing the Black Lives Matter looting/protests?

I seriously don't see any connection to protests or looting here and wonder why you are trying to make this issue about protests?

The article details how the money was spent. It was spent for ordinary salaries of Sheriff's Dept employees, Park rangers and probation officers to "free up cash".

...He said the county is putting about $14.3 million towards the public health department’s testing and contact tracing efforts. The rest will continue to fund the payroll of certain county employees to free up the general fund.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/ar...44813632.html?

Why is the County short of money? Maybe because of the money they have to pay out every year in lawsuits, or because the board of supervisors refuses to question the bloated budgets that Sheriff Jones demands every year?

https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article243553807.html

[shelato]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I seriously don't see any connection to protests or looting here and wonder why you are trying to make this issue about protests?

The article details how the money was spent. It was spent for ordinary salaries of Sheriff's Dept employees, Park rangers and probation officers to "free up cash".



Why is the County short of money? Maybe because of the money they have to pay out every year in lawsuits, or because the board of supervisors refuses to question the bloated budgets that Sheriff Jones demands every year?

https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article243553807.html

The article is gated so I can't read it. I am bring up the looting and the protests because that was a really large unexpected cost that wasn't in the budget which likely contributed to budget over runs. You were speculating that he Sherriff needs the money for the lawsuits and I am wondering if that is the only factor here, specifically how much was spent on mutual aid expenses to cover police overtime for the Black Lives Matter protests and looting downtown? I mean that went on for days, maybe even weeks likely for 24 hours a day in terms of them being on high alert. The situation was bad enough where they had to bring in and house the national guard and I am wondering how much of that that Sheriffs Department is responsible for financially? The Sherriff's department operates the local police departments for Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights and I am not sure about Elk Grove, so if the City of Sacramento activated mutual aid during the protests, I think the expense to Sherriff could be pretty big and I am just trying to get a sense of the magnitude of that expense.