Sheriff asks for more money to fight drug epidemic

On the heels of the arrests or pending charges for 75 suspected drug dealers, Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells sees a need for additional detectives in the narcotics division.

“We need some help there,” Wells said Friday. “We are well on our way to coming out with some more information. We have not stopped. They are working extremely hard. They are tired but they are dedicated. We are extremely proud of all of them. They do everything that they can do to make this community safe and get this fentanyl out of our community.”

The request for two additional strategic unit detectives in the sheriff office’s investigative bureau is included in Wells’ request for 22 new positions as part of 2017-18 proposed budget delivered to the commission Friday. In all, Wells, who was elected in November, is seeking $120.3 million, about $6.8 million, or 6 percent, more than the current budget.

“Our overtime, we typically run over budget because of the growth and under-staffing we have,” said Neil Unruh, the sheriff office’s comptroller.

The sheriff’s requests for additional funding is part of $39.6 million in increased spending requests Manatee County government has received from all county departments, constitutional officers and outside organizations, according to Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker. Assuming a 9 percent growth in the property tax base, the new property tax revenue to the county’s four tax funds will total $24.6 million — leaving a potential $15 million shortfall..

“We will be delivering the budget in total to you next Tuesday,” Hunzeker said. The meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the commission chambers.

Because of a staffing shortage at the Florida Highway Patrol, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has had to pick up the slack, so Wells is requesting an additional 10 road deputies.

“We have picked up more traffic crashes, more investigations that we ever have before,” he said. “I don’t see that changing. I cannot allow our citizens waiting four or five hours waiting for FHP to respond. We are really having to pick up a lot more on that end than we ever have before.”

With 36 homicide suspects among the 1,120 inmates at the jail, Wells is asking for four additional corrections deputies, as well as a part-time warrants deputy.

“We continue to do what we can to keep our staff safe,” he said. “That’s very important when you talk about the amount of inmates that we have at our jail.”

With a request for proposals out for a new helicopter, the sheriff’s office will award the bid by Aug. 1.

“We anticipate having that in this budget year,” Unruh said, adding that once they get the new helicopter, they will be selling one of the two existing ones.

Hunzeker said the new helicopter will be funded “through interfund loan and pay it back through sales tax over time.”

All the constitutional officers — sheriff, clerk of Circuit Court, court administration, state attorney, property appraiser, tax collector and supervisor of elections — or their representatives spoke about their budgets during Friday’s work session. The constitutional officers will present again at 1:30 p.m. June 14.

“It’s good to have this dialogue,” Commission Chairwoman Betsy Benac said.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Sheriff asks for more money to fight drug epidemic."