Update
Here is the Great Falls Tribune’s take on the Sheriff funding issue.
Reading the comments thus far, I am once again reminded how the strength of one’s convictions are often inversely proportionate to the amount of time one spends studying an issue.
First, Treasurer Jess Anderson is a great public servant and you are lucky to have his dedication and sincerity. He’s as vulnerable as the Sheriff, though, subject to the whims of the Departments of Justice and Revenue and their incompetencies, and to the funding and second guessing of the potentially clueless county commissioners. It’s a tough spot for county row officers, especially when either the state or the county decide to break the law, (see, late, later, and latest valuation certifications, flawed valuations, badly tested or failed computer systems, failure to enforce statutory cash controls.)
It doesn’t appear that the Sheriff is off the hook on this one. Yes, he’s responsible directly to the public just like the Treasurer. However, look at his purchase of equipment at the end of a fiscal year outside his budget authorization. This wasn’t overtime caused by a bad computer system, or some emergency replacement of deputy patrol cars destroyed in a chase. Nope, this was the Sheriff flaunting his independence in a way in which he is NOT independent. It’s rare that Commissioners will remove a row officer from office, but it has been done.
The Sheriff in Gallatin county has also been taking his budget demands to the public in similar ways. The County Commission is very budget conscious and hasn’t raised taxes in a long time, except for the voter approved jail, and the voter approved 911 levy, and the voter approved open space bonds. They always leave levy authority “on the table”. The Sheriff constantly whines about “growth”, but doesn’t realize that without the increase in taxable value his budget would have be cut every year.
I’m no fan of traditional county commissions. In the Gallatin, a prior county commission embarassed by their failures to provide a county accounting system, broke the open meeting law by telling the public they were having office hours, but instead sneaked off to Helena to meet with the now disgraced author of the Points Computer system boondoggle, required their secretary to lie for them to cover up the meeting, and did this so egregiously that the County attorney and Sheriff had the incident investigated, the secretary sued for constructive discharge, and, post investigation, the CA recommended that they be prosecuted for violations of Title II. The Sheriff at the time was so distrustful of that commission that he quit. He was no incompetent, Bill Slaughter subsequently ran the Department of Corrections for both Judy Martz and Governor Schweitzer.
In the bigger counties Co Commissioners get elected on the strength of legislative issues, planning or transportation usually. But their job is to manage the County, and many fall woefully short in their management experience and abilities. Three commissioners in bigger counties really aren’t sufficient representation for the county. County commissioners in counties with big cities typically discount the county residents who live in the cities and focus solely on the rural areas. It’s a flawed system in theory and in practice, which is why some counties have stretched the bounds of their statutory models and hired “County Adminstrators”.
Anyway, it’s a complex issue and I sympathize with the Sheriff while recognizing that he’s probably overstepped a time or two.
Great comments goof houlihan!