The Pima County Sheriff’s Department — which has been beset with controversies about deaths at the jail, sexual assault allegations within the department, and the political maneuverings of Sheriff Chris Nanos — is likely to spend almost $5 million more than its budget this year.
According to a Jan. 15 county memo, the sheriff’s department “is forecast to exceed the budget by $2.7 million, primarily related to jail operations.” The county also expects the department to spend another approximately $2 million dollars more than it has been budgeted throughout the rest of the fiscal year, according to county administrator Jan Lesher.
The total budget for the sheriff’s department this fiscal year is over $170 million. Last summer, the board approved an $11 million dollar budget increase for the sheriff’s department, up from $154 million
Outgoing director of the county finance department Ellen Moulton told Arizona Luminaria that after repeated years of the sheriff’s department going over budget, the county will look at increasing its baseline budget. In coming weeks, before the Feb. 18 board of supervisors meeting, the sheriff’s department, as well as other county departments, will submit supplemental budget requests to the board. Moulton is retiring.
Moulton said that this is the first time the requests will be made to the board, instead of to county administrators as in past years. “The board requested the supplemental budgets for more transparency, more ability for public comment and for discussion of the budgets,” Moulton said.
The county’s budgets are typically passed in June.
The county’s finance department did not respond to follow-up questions about the budget increase or spending by the sheriff’s department.
Lesher said there’s “no incentive” for the sheriff’s department to stay within its budget if it continues to overspend “and still get the funds.” She said that was why the county hopes to make budgetary adjustments for the department for the next fiscal year.
Supervisor Steve Christy, of District 4, told Arizona Luminaria, “I have concerns, yes, it seems to be the same thread every year” with the sheriff’s department.
He said that besides the difficulty in maintaining proper staffing levels — resulting in overtime wages — there were “inflationary causes as well” for the department being over budget.
But, Christy added, “Shouldn’t those inflationary concerns have been taken into account during the budgeting process?”
According to the recent memo, “Costs for food, fuel and utilities have not completely stabilized even with the slowing of inflation.”
Overall, according to the county’s financial forecast, the county spent $613.5 million — a $6.3 million increase from the previous year. At the same time, revenues for the general fund — from local taxes, as well as state and federal revenue — also increased, by about $6 million.
Arizona Luminaria asked the sheriff’s department for more detail about its projected budget, but did not receive a response.
A 2023 county memo addressed similar over-spending issues. At that time, the sheriff’s department was about $3 million over budget for Fiscal Year 2022/2023.
In both fiscal years, officials blamed inflation as part of the reason the sheriff’s department went over budget.
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