Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Monday, July 22 @ 4:08 p.m. / Crime, Local Government, Oregon
Curry County Sheriff Defends Staffing Decisions Following Budget Cuts, Says He's Taking Steps to Propose A Special District For Law Enforcement
Sheriff John Ward
Previously:
###
Three days after cutting most of his staff, Curry County’s sheriff said he would bring a measure to create a special taxing district before the Board of Commissioners for potential placement on the November ballot.
Sheriff John Ward told commissioners that he’s creating a “board of members” who will draft the proposed measure for their consideration. He took umbrage at what he said were accusations that his office was hiding money and argued that budget cuts could have been avoided if the Board of Commissioners had dipped further into the county’s Road Department reserves.
“I’m not saying use all the road funding reserves, but use it down to where we can at least have some money to save the deputies’ jobs and provide public safety,” Ward said Thursday. “My job is to provide public safety, and I can’t do it with no deputies.”
Ward appeared before commissioners nearly two months after voters rejected a tax levy for a 24/7 sheriff’s department. He said he was there to provide a status update, especially following a July 9 press release stating that his office would use a self-report form to handle most calls for service.
The Curry County Sheriff's Office currently consists of three supervisors, including the sheriff, and three deputies. Those deputies will be available to respond to crimes-in-progress from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. five days a week, he said.
Outside of those hours, Ward said, the only time his deputies will respond is if it’s a life-threatening issue.
“I’m not sending anybody there without backup,” he said. “So if we get called out in the middle of the night, they’re going to have to call out two people. And if there’s not two people I’m going to respond by myself.”
Curry County was left with a $3.8 million general fund deficit after the tax levy failed. On June 27, commissioners approved a total combined 2024-25 budget of $64.9 million, roughly $2.3 million less than the previous year following department reorganizations and staff layoffs.
Curry County staff also transferred $1.18 million in interest revenue from its Road Department reserves to present a balanced budget before commissioners.
Roughly 17 people lost their jobs, Commissioner Brad Alcorn told the public on June 27.
In the sheriff’s office, 10 road deputy positions were eliminated as well as a captain, two detectives and a sergeant/K9 unit. On Thursday, Ward said the two detectives are now serving as patrol deputies and a third deputy that is now in the jail because two positions were cut from corrections.
Two corrections officers are on medical leave, one is on light duty and two have resigned, Ward said.
Ward said a marine deputy does work out of his office, but he’s “not getting paid by the county to do county work.” A sergeant that works with Curry County Search & Rescue is currently training with the Oregon State Marine Board, the sheriff said.
During his conversation with county commissioners, Ward didn’t mention his intention of creating a special taxing district for law enforcement until they asked him. But it was Commissioner-elect Patrick Hollinger who introduced the subject before the sheriff took the podium.
Hollinger, who ran against incumbent John Herzog, said creating a special sheriff tax district would be crucial for enhancing public safety and providing proper security. But, he said, residents had concerns about a lack of transparency within the sheriff’s office.
Hollinger called for an “in-depth transparent financial review” of Ward’s office and asked that it be made public.
“By conducting this financial review, we will be able to build trust between the sheriff’s department and the community it serves,” Hollinger said. “When citizens see we are all committed to transparency and accountability, they will be more likely to support, vote and pay for the establishment of a special sheriff tax district.”
Though he said he’s “probably the most frugal sheriff there’s ever been when it comes to spending,” Ward urged the county to conduct a financial audit of his office. He lobbed the lack-of-transparency accusation back at county commissioners and County Counsel Ted Fitzgerald.
“Nobody’s come to me and talked to me about anything like that in advance; it’s always right in the middle of a public meeting,” Ward said. “I haven’t talked to either one of you guys since before the levy, but you send your county counsel to me through an email or a phone call.”
As for a special taxing district for law enforcement, Ward said a workshop is necessary to “go over the numbers and what we need.”
“The ballot district will be written by the board of members, not you guys,” he told commissioners, referring to the governing body that would oversee the district.
Alcorn said he and his colleagues wanted to help. He acknowledged that the last time he and the sheriff spoke it was before the May 21 election and “it got somewhat heated.”
Ward responded by mentioning his endorsement for Alcorn when he ran for county commissioner since he stated he didn’t want Curry County to be like Portland — that public safety is the No. 1 priority.
Trost said 73 percent of Curry County’s budget goes to law enforcement, so when budget cuts are necessary the bulk of them are going ot come out of the sheriff’s office. Trost said when he and his colleagues were advocating for tax levy, they also acknowledged that they couldn’t continue to use Road Department reserves to make the county budget whole.
Trost argued that even if Curry County had allocated $3.4 million to the sheriff’s office from the Road Department reserves, cuts to the budget would still be necessary.
Fitzgerald added that all departments countywide faced dramatic cuts.
“And they’re feeling them,” he said. “To say that is not the case is not true. All departments have suffered greatly.”
According to Finance Director Keina Wolf, Curry County currently has about $17 million in its Road Department reserve.
In response to a question from Wolf, Ward said $15 million was a reasonable threshold to take the reserve down to.
Wolf also mentioned a discussion Curry County commissioners had last month before they approved a revision to the county’s marijuana retail sales tax ordinance. At its June 20 meeting, commissioners learned that about $440,000 in marijuana sales tax revenue had been sitting idle for about five years.
Those dollars were supposed to be used for the sheriff’s office and had been allocated to the general fund. According to Fitzgerald, those dollars had been designated to the sheriff’s office, but “was not expressed in the budget in a way that you could see it.”
Commissioners agreed to deposit marijuana retail sales tax revenue into the general fund again.
On Thursday, Wolf said she didn’t think anyone was hiding money.
“I think it was a very poorly done financial system that had a lot of moving parts in regard to … that made things not transparent,” she said. “Not of the sheriff’s department necessarily, but definitely the way things were done, and the finance department did have a big part to play in that.”
According to Trost, if a special tax district for law enforcement is going to be on the November general election ballot, it has to be before the Board of Commissioners on Aug. 7 and to the county clerk by Aug. 16.
CLICK TO MANAGE