After initially voting Wednesday to approve an additional $1.9 million allotment to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office (LCSO), the Board of Supervisors later reconsidered and voted to table final action on the spending decision until April.
The additional funds will likely be needed in the weeks ahead, several supervisors agreed, in order to ensure law enforcement officials receive paychecks later in the current fiscal year, which runs through June; but the board wants a deeper look at the financial data on why Sheriff Mike Chapman has exceeded his budget by nearly $2.3 million this year.
County staff is expected to present that information to the supervisors in the weeks ahead.
The turning point Wednesday came after several supervisors were briefed on an editorial Chapman wrote for the Times-Mirror and other media outlets.
Supervisor Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn) said he was put off by the fact Chapman blamed everyone but himself for the excess spending. Buona said he wished the sheriff would've taken personal responsibility regarding his budget.
Chapman says overtime pay and personnel staffing are the driving forces behind LCSO's budget excesses. Vacancy savings, a county policy through which departments must leave approved positions vacant for cost-savings, is the key element, Chapman said.
The sheriff explained vacancy savings as under-staffing stemming from the Board of Supervisors approving additional positions yet not allowing the sheriff's office to fill the positions.
“These positions are held hostage,” Chapman wrote in an editorial. “Doing this makes the county appear as though it saved [money] … By forcing the LCSO to incur such a high number of vacancy savings, our workforce becomes understaffed and we must backfill (sic) the positions by paying time and a half overtime – a process that actually costs more than filling the originally allocated, but unfunded positions.”
Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) initiated the reconsideration Wednesday, noting there seems to be disagreement between Chapman and the county's finance staff on budget details.
Buona pointed out the county policies Chapman bashed have been in place in previous years, but the previous sheriff never overspent his total budget.
In early March, Buona brought to light the LCSO was approximately $2.7 million over its $73 million budget for the current fiscal year ending in June. That amount was later estimated to be closer to $2.3 million due to an error on behalf of the county's finance staff.
The additional funds, if approved, will come from excess county revenue.
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Bla, Bla, Bla….new costumes, hats, guns and lawnmowers for the Sheriffs Dept. Whoopie!
In the know.. we actually agree on something, sounds crazy, but I totally agree that the new PR rep “The Director” making 120k and holding the rank of a maj is ludicrous….. Our old PR rep who I doubt makes over 70k was doing a great job, total slap in the face to him.
And how does someone go from a campaign manager to a “Director” in a 700 man agency, CRAZY. ........ Almost doesnt even sound ethical. Further more isnt it against the law for “The Director” to be campaigning while getting paid by tax payers.
Sheriff I agree with most things but this “Director” you brought it has ZERO business being involved in law enforcement matters of any kind.
Newsflash!! Regarding the LCSO Budget Scandal of 2012/13 the core issue is the complete and utter disregard for a budget that has been demonstrated and even worse the fact that this huge overrun was know about since last year but the Sheriff failed to communicate this major issue to the Board of Supervisors. Instead of trying to tighten things up he went out and bought unneeded new uniforms, new guns that were not needed, and continued to fund the $100,000/yr position of a second PR person, who just happens to be his campaign manager. That 100K could have been used to pay for two more Field Deputies.
The Board has every right to question the Sheriff regarding this issue. With the out of control spending the Sheriff has risked his people not getting a paycheck as we come to the end of the fiscal year. Now the Board is in the untenable position of having to spend millions to bail out the Sheriff just so his people can get a paycheck. Can you imagine if every department head in the County decided to just go out and buy unbudgeted items and create new unbudgeted programs and then decided not to tell the Board until the end of the year. What if the fire chief just decided that regardless of a budget he would just go out and buy lots of new uniforms and equipment for his people, not tell the Board of the resultant budget overrun, and risk his people not getting paid. No wonder the BOS is livid, who wouldn’t be. Now the Board, and rightly so, has to come up with the money so the deputies get paid.
Then when all this comes out the blame is laid on one of the commanders, what kind of leadership is that? When you’re the captain of the ship and things are falling apart you are the one who is supposed to take the blame.
This issue was known about since last year. Can you imagine the number of commas and zeros on the check that the County would have to write if there was a lawsuit because the Sheriff’s own budget people tried to bring this issue to light and were disciplined for doing so?
The bottom line is that we have seen extremely poor leadership and utter disregard for managing an agency within a budget.
So Chapman does the right thing and lays everything out in the open for the public and the BOS is upset…... How funny is that. He has the right to say whatever he wants and has an oath to keep the people informed.
Good job Sheriff..
Very political move BOS…
I wish Ralph Buona would take responsibility for destroying athletic fields.
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