Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008

Stanislaus County ranks low on criminal justice spending

Numbers point to efficiency, not underfunding, officials say

Stanislaus County ranks near the bottom of a 12-county comparison of per capita spending on criminal justice departments, according to figures developed by a county public safety committee.

The comparison ranked the per capita spending on sheriff's departments, probation departments, district attorneys offices and public defenders offices. Stanislaus ranked 11th overall, at $295.56 per capita.

In the individual categories, Stanislaus ranked last in spending for probation, 11th for the district attorney, 11th for the public defender and seventh for the sheriff.

The counties in the comparison are Fresno, Kern, Madera, Merced, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Sonoma, Tulare, Ventura and Yolo. They were chosen because they were neighboring counties or were on a list of eight comparable counties Stanislaus uses for setting salaries.

Sonoma County was the highest in overall spending at $449.82 per capita, and Madera County the lowest, at $203.92.

Stanislaus Chief Probation Officer Jerry Powers told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the comparison showed the county is operating efficiently.

"It tells you we are getting a pretty good bang for the buck," Powers said.

The comparison came in a report on efforts to make law enforcement more efficient, including the use of global positioning system technology to monitor criminal offenders released to their homes, and a reorganization of the Sheriff's Department that will base deputies closer to their patrol areas to reduce response times.

The figures could be interpreted to indicate that the county is underfunding criminal justice departments, but board Chairman Tom Mayfield agreed with Powers that it was a measure of efficiency.

"We are doing more than a lot of counties are, and not spending nearly as much," he said.

"We can always spend more, we can hire more people," Mayfield added. "But the way economics are now, it's very tough to find the money."

Powers said his department is at the bottom of the 12 counties because most of the other counties have a commitment facility or camp for longer term stays. Stanislaus County is working on developing a probation camp, he said, which would add $6 million to $7 million in staffing and operational costs to his budget.

Perhaps the biggest factor in the lagging criminal justice spending, county officials said, is the fact that Stanislaus County gets less property tax money back from the state than most other counties. The county gets 11 cents per dollar back from the state, while the state average is 19 cents. Bringing Stanislaus up to the state average would add several million dollars to the county's general fund, county officials say. The general fund is where the county gets money to pay for criminal justice, along with parks, planning and other county programs.

"I'd love to have more money," Powers said, "But (the county) only gets so much money to spend. I think we do a pretty good job of spreading that money as far as we can."

Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley said the spending levels are a problem, but one the Board of Supervisors has little leeway to address.

"I think there is a problem," Shipley said. "We need more money to do a better job." But the Board of Supervisors already allocates the majority of its general fund budget to criminal justice and public safety departments, she said. The district attorney's office moderates its requests for new positions, and the Board of Supervisors usually grants most of the requests, she said.

"They've listened to us when we come up to budget, but there's only so much money they have to allocate," Shipley said.

County Chief Executive Officer Rick Robinson also sees the numbers as a tribute to the county's ability to squeeze more from a dollar.

"We are doing the best we can with the resources available to us," Robinson said. The county takes a holistic approach to criminal justice, he said, supporting programs to keep people out of the criminal justice system, such as mental health programs.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.