Part two of a two-part series

RIO GRANDE COUNTY— The Rio Grande County Commissioners have been busy working on the 2018 county budget. The budget moved forward as presented with a cost of living wage increase for all county departments, but not before the Rio Grande County Sheriff’s Office (RGSO) portion of the budget became a point of contention between commissioners, RGSO and the public. The public was allowed to comment at a Nov. 30 meeting, which was then followed by a special meeting for further discussion on Dec. 4.

Public comments

After Commissioner and Board Chair Karla Shriver gave a special presentation regarding the county budget and compared RGSO’s portion of the budget to comparable sheriff’s budgets from the Valley such as Conejos County the floor was opened up for input from the audience at the Thursday, Nov. 30 meeting. Several citizens and deputies informed the commissioners they were not pleased with the proposed portion of the sheriff’s budget and feel the department needs an increase.

“Would you risk your life for $28,000 a year? Me and Brian Norton got into one hell of an argument over that. One deputy on a night? What are you going to do if this man gets shot?...They don’t make enough; that’s why no one will come here,” stated Bill Miller.

Shriver responded that the pay classification was not set by the commissioners. If a new deputy has experience to be paid more it is up to the sheriff to set that pay rate. Shriver also alleged she believed there are deeper issues going on in RGSO than just they pay rate contributing to a shortage of deputies.

Miller continued. “You guys (county commissioners) make almost $50,000 a year, Brian [Norton] makes over $60,000. These guys (deputies) make $28,000 and you take $900 away for their insurance. How the hell can they make a living? I don’t understand it. One night I had a deputy at my house...he can’t even talk to me because he was on his own and he kept getting calls....we need help. We need the investigators; we need the dogs...here’s the deal. We elected him to be our sheriff. Why don’t the county commissioners let him make the decisions on what we need?...When you talk about other departments having the same size of land. Rio Grande is the biggest. It doesn’t matter if it’s public lands...Look at Monte Vista they have more cops than in the whole damn Valley….when you talk about deputies being in Monte Vista well who do you think is making all the drug busts? It sure ain’t Monte Vista. They’re too busy writing tickets; that’s their whole thing. We have to get rid of the drugs, and I guarantee you that Monte Vista and Del Norte is a hub,” he shouted.

Michael Pena, a part-time deputy, then spoke up. “Brian, about 10 months ago, called me and asked if I could please come out of retirement to help the sheriff’s office. I told him that I would on condition it was only part time because I was already retired. I could not work for the sheriff’s office if I wasn’t already retired because they don’t pay worth a (expletive). I am driving a piece of (expletive) F-150 Ford pickup that you guys are so proud of. It’s a piece of (expletive). I’m afraid to take it over 75 miles an hour because I’m afraid it will blow up. I had a high [speed] chase pursuit from South Fork all the way to Monte Vista, and the Del Norte officers left me in the dust because I’m afraid to drive it that fast. Don’t be proud of what the sheriff’s office have. I’m driving a piece of (expletive). You ain’t got (expletive)...Del Norte PD pays better; Monte PD pays better. Trust me everybody pays better than RGSO...”

A full-time deputy then took an opportunity to speak. “I make $2,000 a month. I’m lucky if I have $400 or $500 left after I pay my bills for the entire month. I have to buy food. I have to buy gas for my car. Sometimes I like to do things on my days off. I can’t do very much with $500 for 30 days. I’m lucky if I have a partner with me. There’s been days where I’m going all the way from South Fork all they way to the 6 East never shutting my lights off. It would be really nice to have a partner, and I’m telling you right now no one is going to want to work for this sheriff’s office for this pay. We are the lowest paid sheriff’s agency in this Valley. I also pay $170 a month out of my paycheck for health insurance. If I had a family it would be $900,” he said.

Deputy Michael Pino spoke and said that he did not like the discussion that was occurring. “I would really like someone on the board of county commissioners that will be pro-law enforcement. Maybe it’s time some of the county commissioners get impeached and get someone in here that will be pro-law enforcement. I think the county residents are either for or with law enforcement.”

Special meeting held Dec. 4

A special meeting to discuss the public comments was scheduled and held on Monday, Dec. 4.

“I think it would be wise to take the public comments into consideration. If the public feels it’s important enough to comment I think we need to pay attention to that,” stated Commissioner Suzanne Bothell.

Shriver stated the issue before the board was whether or not the budget should be re-done with a special consideration for RGSO and increasing their pay rate more than the “across the board” increase that is being done throughout the county departments.

Bothell made a motion to re-do the sheriff’s budget and increase his department’s budget. The motion did not receive a second throughout the meeting.

County Administrator Roni Wisdom reiterated that deputies do not have to be started at the bottom of the pay scale. She said she thought there had been some confusion throughout the years about this. Wisdom suggested there be meetings with the Sheriff to clarify this point and to help him ensure deputies were being paid appropriately for their skill sets and years of experience.

Bothell said that all county departments received what they wanted in their budget except for the sheriff. She pointed out his request for two more investigators was cut during the negotiations of the budget. “All along the way we’ve taken what he asked for and cut it down— over and over and over,” she said.

Bothell continued, saying that law enforcement departments are underfunded all throughout the state. She said she feels law enforcement should be supported and that with the cuts to the sheriff’s requests the least that could be done is provide a wage increase.

Shriver’s written statement

Shriver then presented her discussion by a reading a written statement.

“I apologize for the written statement but I want to make sure my thoughts are all expressed words cannot be later twisted into something else. This topic has not been easy since it was began in August of this year. However, when you sign up for this position and the responsibility of commissioner it is expected that you will have to make difficult choices and decisions. As I’ve stated in the past, to me the employees of Rio Grande County are the biggest asset we have. I’m sorry that the sheriff’s deputies have been temporarily caught in the middle. To say that I am not law enforcement-friendly because I did not support a special added pay raise for the sheriff’s deputies is an insult to me. The sheriff received some donations from several local organizations of protective gear. I am a member of one of those organizations who purchased three sets of that gear. Both Commissioner [Gene] Glover and I value and respect our law enforcement officers not only in Rio Grande County but all over the United States,” she said.

Shriver reiterated points that were discussed at the Nov. 30 meeting. She said the decision before the board was to give employees across all county departments a raise or give all departments a raise with a special added around 13-16 percent increase for the sheriff’s department.

“I feel for the sheriff’s deputies and their families and would love to give them all a raise even more than what the sheriff is asking for. In fact, I’d like to give all of Rio Grande County employees a larger raise. A lot of them are paid less than comparable county peers as well. They all work hard for the county and deserve it. The problem is revenue. With the proposed budget the county will be dipping into its savings account or reserve $1.5 million dollars. This is not sustainable. The commissioners recognize this,” stated Shriver. She also informed that the commissioners are working on a tax proposal for the next election cycle to help with this issue.

Shriver then re-explained that the supervisor of each department has to authorize merit-based pay increases. She questioned why deputies are not upset with the sheriff and management if they are not receiving merit-based increases that would be Sheriff Norton’s responsibility to authorize.

Shriver stated that there is a communication problem between the sheriff’s department and the county commissioners. She said it is something that needs to be worked on and improved.

The sheriff offering free concealed classes was again brought up. Shriver suggested charging for these classes would help bring in revenue for the department and the county.

Shriver then made some allegations regarding the department and about the public comments presented. Shriver said computers had been turned off at the sheriff’s department by an internet service provider because deputies were illegally downloading copyrighted movies with illegal software.

Shriver said she appreciates the public attending and commenting but feels the attendees were stacked and coached on what to say with misleading information. “I believe the term today is what they call it ‘fake news.’”

Decision

Bothell made a second motion to once again ask that the sheriff’s budget be increased. It did not receive a second.

The 2018 budget moved forward as presented with an “across the board” cost of living increase for all county departments.