When asked to trim costs, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office cut pay raises to keep Tent City
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is eliminating pay raises for some of its jail detention staff to help foot the growing bill for a racial-profiling case that already has cost taxpayers $43 million over the past three years.
The Sheriff's Office considered several other cost-cutting options, including the closing of the agency’s famed Tent City jail — a longtime pet project for Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The $8 million in budget cuts were compiled by the Sheriff's Office to pay for the latest round of legally required mandates. The $8 million budget shuffle, which will finance training and personnel changes required by a recent court order, was approved by the county's Board of Supervisors last week.
Tent City is projected to cost $8.6 million to run over the next year.
The decision to cut funds for the detention-staff raises, a jail special-response team and other programs to pay for legal penalties has drawn criticism from within the Sheriff's Office and raised questions from at least two county supervisors.
Critics say Tent City’s tough-on-crime appeal ensures the facility’s survival at the expense of necessary programs and positions.
Higher vacancy rates at many jail facilities
About 400 of Tent City’s 2,176 beds were occupied by full-time inmates on Tuesday. Another 400 sleep at the tents but are on work furlough, meaning they’re released into the community for 12 hours a day.
Other jails operated by the county also have been operating with high vacancy rates, at least partly because arrest rates throughout the county are down.
Towers Jail, another facility considered for closing, on Tuesday was holding about 58 percent of its capacity of 1,080. Hundreds of other vacancies are spread throughout the county's other jails as well.
"Inmate population was extremely low; we have more beds than we need," County Supervisor Steve Gallardo said. "So what’s the possibility of closing one down? That was supposed to be presented, but that never came to the board."
Chief deputy: A scramble to find $8 million
Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan acknowledged that the Sheriff's Office had considered closing one of the jails, but said that review was done “rather hastily” in officials' scramble to find the $8 million. Sheridan said the issue arose after he put together a committee to see where the agency could save more money.
“We don’t have enough information right now to make a major decision like that,” he said in an interview this week about potential jail closings. “While we thought about it, we can’t make the final decision on it until we take a look at some legislation that might happen this year.”
Sheridan said the hiring of more police officers by jurisdictions in Maricopa County or changes in the handling of DUI inmates could spark growth in jail populations.
Arpaio critics said the decision was less about efficiency and more about the lawman’s political future.
“The sheriff has decided, and has made it clear for a very long time … that Tent City is one of his signature programs that he believes will get him re-elected,” said Len Sherman, a former aide and Arpaio biographer.
“He thinks if he closes Tent City he would lose support,” Sherman said. “Monetary concerns, efficiency concerns, or even safety concerns — of inmates or even his own officers — be damned.”
Justice Department to decide on Sheriff Joe Arpaio criminal contempt charges
Sheridan denied maintaining Tent City was a political maneuver.
“It is a practical issue of closing a major facility down,” he said, citing inmate-classification issues and the trouble of reopening a jail if inmate populations grew.
“My concern is if we are going to close a facility, consolidate housing, that we do it after we’ve completed a staff study on the issue, and not make a decision in a week,” he said. “That’s what people were pushing me to do, I’m not going to be forced to make a rash, snap decision.”
Iconic facility causes sharp divisions
The outdoor compound was introduced by Arpaio in 1993 as a way to absorb inmates from then-overcrowded jails rather than releasing them. Tent City since has been held up as a cost-saving alternative to brick-and-mortar facilities and is one of Arpaio’s favorite sites to host reporters.
On the MCSO website, Tent City was described as a “site for both American and International tourists.”
This week, Arpaio's campaign released a television ad cheering the facility.
"Some cities let criminals out because their jails are too crowded," a voiceover says, before the camera focuses on Arpaio, walking next to a razor-wire fence.
"I would never do that," Arpaio tells the audience, describing how he created Tent City. "That's my commitment to you: Keeping our community safe. And the best part? It saves taxpayers millions of dollars every year."
Arpaio is running for his seventh term in office in November.
Arpaio's campaign spokesman Chad Willems said the ad's claim that Tent City saves "millions" is in comparison the county building a a brick-and-mortar facility in 1993. Tent City's officer-to-inmate ratio is lower, he said, and its maintenance and upkeep cost less.
The lawman has relished criticism about the excessive heat endured by Tent City’s inmates during Phoenix summers.
Jane Sanders, the wife of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, made headlines by touring Tent City this year and sparring with Arpaio over its conditions. And one of the sheriff’s favorite summer traditions is to invite members of the media as employees hand out cold towels or ice to the inmates.
Poll suggests majority of Maricopa County voters view Sheriff Joe Arpaio unfavorably
In a detailed but anonymous letter circulated to reporters last week, authors purporting to be Sheriff's Office employees railed against the decision to keep Tent City open.
Critics point to the jails' empty beds and a depleted detention staff as grounds for consolidation or closure.
There are currently 203 vacant detention positions at MCSO jails out of a possible 2,214, a 9 percent vacancy rate.
Cuts in programs, staffing required
The detention pay plan was the most expensive item to be cut from the budget to shoulder what will become an $8 million annual cost for more training and more supervisors within the department. A federal judge presiding over the racial-profiling case ordered the expenditure this summer.
The shortage of detention officers, whose starting salary is $40,414, had spurred the creation of a $2.5 million pilot program that would have given detention officer raises as incentive for retention.
Sheridan said 250 to 300 of the 1,921 officers could receive the temporary $5,000 raises if they met the requirements to become a "detention officer first class." The classification would have required a training block, an associate's degree and the completion of a course run by the National Institute of Corrections.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio's campaign touts strength of primary victory going into fall election
Sheridan said he had reservations about the program, however, because it would have generated a disparity among officers.
Another $1.1 million was saved by eliminating the detention special response team — a unit that trained its officers to handle high-risk inmates —and $205,000 by reducing overtime for inmate medical services.
The remainder of the $8 million was made up by eliminating vacant positions in Sheriff's Office SWAT and special investigations units, removing detention officers from food-factory positions and reallocating some sworn positions.
Lawsuit costs projected to top $72.5 million soon
The added $8 million is part of an estimated $28.7 million tab the county is expected to pay for the lawsuit in the next year alone. Big-ticket items also include funding for a court-appointed monitor and a pool to compensate victims of illegal detention.
By the middle of 2017, the total costs for the lawsuit are expected to top $72.5 million, according to Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson.
‘A race problem’ or ‘a war on cops’? What Arizonans said about police in our poll
The Sheriff’s Office was asked to help defray the costs of the additional $8 million. The county will foot the bill for an additional $1.7 million required by the order for one-time costs such as vehicles, computers and cellphones.
“The Sheriff’s Department worked hard to come to the table to find internal solutions,” said Maricopa County Supervisor Denny Barney. “But just because they’ve found the resources today doesn’t mean that the need associated with some of the expenditures has been solved.”
Specifically, Barney said, the agency will have to find solutions to help fill the detention officer vacancies.
“We’ve asked them to look for further efficiencies so that the detention pay plan can come back on the table,” he said.