GILROY
– In an effort to make up some of the county’s massive $160
million budget deficit – and save the jobs of many of their own –
the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department will be raising nearly
all of its fees on July 1.
GILROY – In an effort to make up some of the county’s massive $160 million budget deficit – and save the jobs of many of their own – the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department will be raising nearly all of its fees on July 1.
Although details of the fee hikes are still being hammered out, the price of acquiring a permit for a concealed weapon, having the Sheriff’s Department respond to a false burglar alarm and being booked in county jail will all increase by as much as 100 percent come the new fiscal year, July 1.
For example, the booking fee for county jail is preliminarily set to increase from $140.50 to $302, according to budget proposals submitted to county supervisors.
In March, county supervisors asked the Sheriff’s Department to trim $8 million from its $83 million annual budget.
To avoid massive layoffs along with other cuts, the Sheriff’s Department is proposing to raise all of its revenue-producing fees so it can save 34 of the department’s 81 positions proposed to be chopped by the budget axe, Sheriff’s spokesperson Terrance Helm said.
But even with the proposed fee increases, South County’s rural deputy position and its fish and game warden will be condensed to one title, and one of its two plain-clothes deputy positions will be cut, Helm said. San Martin’s school resource officer program with the Sheriff’s Department will also be cut.
“Nothing’s set yet, but the bottom line is that all revenue generating fees are going up,” Helm said. “Every department is looking for revenue wherever they can get it.”
All nine of the full-time deputies currently headquarters at the South County substation in San Martin will keep their jobs through the cuts, but recent positions open due to retirement along with some upcoming retired positions will not be filled in the future, Helm said.
No patrol units in South County will be lost with the budget cuts.
Throughout the county, 47 badged and non-badged members of the 550-badged unit of the Sheriff’s Department will lose their jobs come July 1, although the majority of the budget cuts will focus on programs instead of personnel, Helm said.
