The Lane County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday let go of 63 employees and decided not to fill another 16 1/2 vacant positions, eliminating about a third of its staff. The layoffs included 36 sheriff’s deputies.
The cuts, which could number more in the coming months, were a result of decreased budget allocations for county public safety in the next fiscal year.
LCSO’s resources have long been stretched thin, but the department is now put in an even more precarious position. In fact, it recently became the most understaffed sheriff’s office in the country. In national statistics, there is an average of two officers serving for every 1,000 people in the community. In Lane County, “we’re running at a quarter,” said LCSO Undersheriff Tom Turner.
“It’s so shoestring that it’s going to have a hard time running,” Turner said.
For the public, the layoffs mean delayed response times at best and 25- to 30-minute waits at worst.
LCSO isn’t the only county service suffering from dried up budget funds. Although its losses are some of the most significant, all agencies connected with public safety, including the District Attorney’s Office, the Corrections Division and Health and Human Services, experienced layoffs Thursday.
“This is a public safety disaster,” said Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad.
The DA’s office is also severely understaffed. Harcleroad said the county was in need of 32 prosecutors but only had 22 as of Wednesday. Thursday’s cuts may have diminished that number even more.
The DA’s office has to “plea bargain the heck out of these cases” to make up for its lack of employees and lack of space in the Lane County Jail, Harcleroad said.
“The thought that we would argue between two days and 10 days of jail is foolish,” Harcleroad said. “They’re just going to be released anyway.”
Almost a dozen offenders are released from the jail every day because the county’s funds allow for less than 200 of its 500 jail beds to be used, which proves that lack of funds has a direct effect on crime rates in the county, Harcleroad said.
“Offenders come here because they know the enforcement is weak all around,” Harcleroad said. “It’s the place to be because there’s not enough money to keep these facilities open.”
The picture is grim, but it might have been worse had county commissioners not voted to use emergency federal reserves to partially fund public safety. Without the emergency funds, LCSO would have had to cut its 24-hour service.
Turner said the county will also benefit from the recent road fund swap with the City of Eugene, in which the county traded $4.5 million in road funds for $4.5 million of the city’s general fund.
Lane County has historically funded its departments with timber sales, but since the timber industry has slowly been drying up, offices like the LCSO have received less and less money every year. Next fiscal year’s budget was also drawn up without the inclusion of federal timber payments that are scheduled to expire this year. The funding would have provided an extra $47 million for Lane County’s budget next year.
The county’s financial troubles can also be attributed to its fixed property tax, Turner said. The property tax for Lane County is the lowest in the state, fixed at about $1.20 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Eugene has its own property tax, set at around $8.
“We’ve had to fund our services based on this fixed tax rate,” Turner said.
To find a permanent financial fix, Turner said, the public would probably have to vote on a levy or tax. “What I think will happen is, when people see that the services are dire, I think that’s when the community steps up and helps lead the cause,” he said.
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