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Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson may be crying poverty, but from an intial look at his budget someone at the Sheriff’s department likes to spend money like a drunken sailor in a Vietnamese brothel.
As I told you earlier Anderson, requested a $26 million increase over last year’s budget. MCSD spent $84 million in 2007 and was on track to spend $91 million in 2008 and requested more than $111 million in 2009. That amount was cut back to about $85 million. After going through the budget on-line, here’s what I discovered.
Out of that $26 million increase, $17.5 million went to salaries and benefits. $8.889 million was for salaries, $2.2 million went for raises. He only spent $26 million on salaries in 2007, so why would he need $36 million in 2009? Unless he hired a bunch of people and now trying to get you to write checks that he can’t cash?
In addition, in 2008 MCSD only spent $44,000 on hospital supplies. It requested $1.1 million in 2009. That’s a lot of band-aids.
A lot of sheriff’s deputies must need new clothes, because Anderson went from spending $146,609 on uniforms in 2008 to wanting to spend more than $390,000 in 2009.
Someone at MCSD must also be using a lot of paper because printing costs went from just under $11,000 for 2008 to about $193,000 in 2009.
The rumors about Anderson wanting to buy new cars must be closer to the truth than I thought. His vehicle budget went from $11,000 in 2008 to $723,000 in 2009.
Tired? I hope not, there’s still more.
Anderson’s building security budget went from $0 in 2008 to $400,000 in 2009. I feel safer already.
They also must be expecting to get sued a lot over at the jail. They spent $275,000 on settlement payments in 2008 and expect to spend $2.1 million in 2009. I’m definitely practicing the wrong kind of law.
A lot people must also be getting sick over at the Jail too because medical and hospital expenses are going up from $3.02 million in 2008 to $6.2 million in 2009.
And those pesky cars and vans showed up again under capital expenditures. Anderson only spent $114,000 on cars in 2008 and nothing on vans. Those numbers went up to almost $1.7 million for cars and $740,000 for vans in 2009.
I’m sure the Sheriff has a pretty good explanation for all this. I’ll be watching when he testifies at his budget hearing in a few weeks.
By the way, if you think I am pulling this all out of my rear, you can see the numbers here for yourself.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
“After going through the budget on-line, here’s what I discovered.’”
PLEASE! give us the link where we can view the sheriff’s rape-job budget on-line!!!!
People need to look at this!
The sheriff lost hundreds of deputies and their vehicles to IMPD. Where is all of this money going?
The sheriff bought NUMEROUS brand-new vans in 2007 (AND PUT HIS NAME IN HUGE LETTERS ON ALL FOUR SIDES OF THEM).
WHERE IS ALL OF THIS MONEY GOING?????
August 18th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
The flowers. It’s going to the flowers.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Holy Sh*t!
August 18th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
There is still a lot of fluff in his budget that shoulsn’t be. He is still figuring in money that isn’t needed after the merger. One could easily cut another 10 - 15 million out of his budget and he still would have plenty. Mr. King, Frank’s budget man, doesn’t have a clue to where monies are used!
August 18th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Excellelnt post. Thank you. One possible explanation for some of the nonsense could be definitions. But not this much difference…
Again, super-nice SUVs and Crown Vics masquerading as necessity, is hardly a way to sav emoney.
Am I missing something? What is the need for Anderson to have a police cruiser anyway? He no longer needs to rush to the scene of anything.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
To save money, there should be NO TAKE-HOME Sheriff cars! He performs NO EMERGENCY functions and has no call-outs! (If he did have a call-out, it would be to the office (jail)). Why shouldn’t we expect his employees to drive to their office like the rest of us???
August 19th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Those flowers cost money! No seriously it is time for a special commission to take a hard look at the sheriff’s budget! I wonder how many unmarked cars and suv are stuffed in to the budget. The sad part is the rank and file at the sheriff department are doing a great job!
August 19th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Abdul, We owe you a debt of thanks for this. So, THANKS!
August 19th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I’m going to go back and re-read the council ordinance which returned the IMPD to mayoral control. I must’ve missed something. Frank has become a jailkeeper and process server under that ordinance. Or so I thought.
Am I missing something?
August 19th, 2008 at 8:30 am
The sheriff was on WIBC radio Tuesday morning and said SEVERAL times that he has OVER 700 SWORN OFFICERS.
During the “consolidation” the sheriff transferred all sworn officers except one to IMPD. WHERE DID HE GET OVER 700 NEW OFFICERS?
Why doesn’t someone take the sheriff’s budget to task like they are Mayor Ballards?
August 19th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Another tidbit: With all the vehicles comes all the fuel expense. We were told last year that take-home vehicles would be stopped after the conclusion of 2008, so during this years’ fuel crisis, how many thousands of dollars in these high mileage vehicles were taxpayers charged at the city watering trough? Does anyone audit this, or do the ‘bad’ cops siphon off the city and code blue silence cover it up. What is percentage of fuel used this year compared to last year at this time? Who is watching this?
August 19th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Concerned Taxpayer: Ballard deserves scrutiny on his budget. He inherited this year’s budget, and had zero impact on it.
Next year’s budget, just released, is entirely Ballard’s. I did’t vote for him. But I truly wanted to give him a chance, mostly because: he owed nobody, and that’s a first…perhaps good for the city.
This budget reflects the style and personality of a top-down dictatorial military-style mayor. It is not collaborative. It does not seek compromise or help.
It is strictly his, and he’ll have to live with it.
The 2011 campaign just began, and if you’re a Ballard supporter, you’d better find a bunker. Unless he changes course and starts listening to broader audiences.
Hate to repeat myself, but will the city employee/councillors recuse from the budget vote? And I seem to remember that Ballard opined last year that the 2007-elected city cmployee/councillors should be the last ones serving dual masters.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I though the IMPD was a combination of the Sheriff and IPD.
If I read this right, it appears to be a contest of whether the Sheriff or the new IMPD can spend more.(Notice they seem to still be separate)
Sheriff Anderson want a $26 million increased budget for salary increases, new cars, and maybe more people.
The mayor has submitted a budget that requests over $20 million for police salary increases, new cars, and at least 36 new administrative staff.
Where is the cost savings and efficiency promised by combining the police department with the sheriff?
Contrary to revisionist history, the Mayor was elected because of a higher taxes problem, not because voters thought police officers needed more money.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Taxpayer: IMPD has nothing to do with the Sheriff, except that the Sheriff controls the 911 center.
The Sheriff has a fleet of wonderful new or little used cars for his staff. His staff does nothing more than report to work like the rest of us and CANNOT JUSTIFY take-home county cars. They also no longer provide any emergency service, so they do not need flashing lights/siren that cost around $1000/each.
The City-County Council needs to eliminate take-home cars for the sheriff’s department. They have no reason to take them home.
Now for the Police. Bart raped the city budget to take care of cronys, the rich, etc. He submitted a budget that was not realistic. He did not hire police for TWO YEARS! He failed to replace worn out police cars, fire apparatus, and DOT trucks. As a result, the city vehicles are in crisis!!!
Did you see the rust-buckets salting the streets last winter??? I was surprised they could hold salt with the excessive rust!
Our mayor needs millions of $$$ to replace our worn out city vehicles.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Muckraker,
You have proven my point.
Obviously the consolidation of the Sheriff and IPD is not complete.
Appears to be no central command structure with combined finances and personnel departments.
Still have at least two styles of uniforms and squad cars. Still a culture of us and them.
The citizens deserve better.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
My guess is that most of those “700 sworn officers” are special deputies like the ones you see doing loss prevention at K-Mart. They aren’t paid by the sheriff, they are paid by K-Mart (or whomever), but since they derive law enforcement powers from the sheriff they technically are “sworn officers”. But they receive NO salary from the MCSD so Frank is trying to pull (another) fast one on the public. Same thing with all those private security companies. A lot of these private security guards are also unpaid special deputies, which merely means they have arrest powers. Nice try, Frank.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Those “700 sworn officers” are really civil deputies who serve process, special deputies who check on sex offenders, jail deputies (they used to be called correction officers). We are not talking street cops like IMPD.
There are also the training MCSD does for private companies so they can have arrest powers. I heard MCSD got $500 per person for that training, but I would have to double check that figure.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Sounds to me like the sheriff and his department are out of control! I think most taxpayers believe that corruption is rampant and pockets for the brass are well lined.
Time for the department to be taken apart and eliminated in Marion county once and for all! IMPD should be handling everything across the board with strict supervision.
The public is being ripped off in Marion County and it is time the State constitution is changed to eliminate this fiasco.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Seperate ivory towers aren’t a template for efficiency in business or education. At a time of severely constricted budgets, why do taxpayers have to put-up with this?
August 19th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
This Mayor said he would not cut public safety, but he did. Say what you will, but Frank Anderson has had a long career in public safety, and This Mayor has not. If it comes down to it, I’ll trust the guy with a badge on his shirt.
Are there lots of places the Sheriff can cut his budget. Sure, and Abdul has pointed out some of those.
But ask the same question of IMPD. You think they aren’t wasting money in the same way? If not, prove it to me. Show the IMPD line by line, just as you did the Sheriff.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Taxpayer, you need to educate yourself. The Sheriff’s Department and IPD merged LAW ENFORCEMENT and INVESTIGATION personnel. IMPD still had a “Chief” under the Sheriff’s control, but the Sheriff’s command structure stayed in tact during his (thankfully short) reign. Now that control of LAW ENFORCEMENT and OPERATIONS has been turned back over to the city command structure, the Sheriff is only in charge of those things accorded him by the Indiana Constitution. He has the Jail, Tax Warrant service, and county building/court security. I don’t know how many court officers and jail officers he has, but they are most definitely “sworn” officers, meaning they are sworn to follow the Sheriff. They don’t need take home cars. The wagon officers MOST DEFINITELY don’t need take home vans, but they have them. Officers that work in the jail do NOT need a car. If a prisoner needs transported, we have WAGONS.
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BF, Cottey was as corrupt as they come, even sending his goons to intimidate his son’s multiple “baby-mommas” (as far away as Terre Haute) into not going after his son for support. He wore a badge. Do you trust him more than Ballard as well? I don’t.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Statler just hit a home run with the Cottey comment.
To top it off, Cottey was stupid. Nice Camaro, though.
Clearly, he had no mirrors in his house. That rug was straight out of Bauerville.
August 20th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Cottey was my Commander for a while on IPD. I never saw him in uniform on the street with us, getting his ‘hands dirty’. He was always wearing a suit.
He didn’t seem to have any problems locating fruit broads, though.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:05 am
[...] course this is also the same Sheriff whose original budget request was $111 million. It’s $86 million [...]