TAVARES — Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell is seeking a $13.6 million increase in next year’s budget for a total of $95.6 million, about 17% above the agency’s current $82 million budget.
The bulk of it is for salaries, Grinnell told the Daily Commercial Tuesday.
“We’re just trying to remain competitive,” he said.
Grinnell’s ask will be considered as The Lake County Commission goes through its budget process for the 2022-23 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
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Some trickle-down from Tallahassee
Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature increased minimum starting pay for law enforcement officers to $50,000, effective July 1. The state is also paying a $5,000 sign-up bonus for officers moving to Florida from other states.
“The governor did a lot for law enforcement this year,” Grinnell said.
That’s good news for law enforcement, but the starting pay for the sheriff’s office is $41,000.
He has 570 sworn officers, 800 employees total, and it’s especially hard to find people to take the civilian jobs.
“We’ve got kids that say, ‘Why should we work in that kind of environment when we can make more at Chick-fil-A or Panera?” he said. “We don’t want to be in the position of training them just to lose them to somebody else.”
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In Grinnell’s letter to County Commission Chairman Sean Parks, Grinnell wrote: “Starting pay for law enforcement officers in Tavares, Mount Dora, Clermont, Leesburg is at or approaching $50,000 annually.”
He said Leesburg pays an additional $2,000 for trained Lake County deputies.
And there’s plenty of competition outside of Lake County, too. This year, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office sent a recruiting team to attend graduation ceremonies for newly trained law enforcement officers.
“I’m very familiar with the challenges the sheriff faces,” said Sean Parks, chairman of the commission.
Inflation playing a big part
Commissioners undoubtedly will be hearing pleas from every constitutional officer for additional funds due to inflation, which was at 8.5% at the end of March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Plus, voters also approved raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, Parks noted.
The county’s budget will come in at around $600 million, he said.
Parks said the county has been able to come up with “great efficiencies” in the past few years by keeping staffing levels the same as 2006.
A lot of businesses have increased their prices due to inflation, but the county is determined not to pass those costs onto the taxpayer, Parks said.
“There is no appetite on the county commission to increase taxes,” he said.
There is some good news for the county. Increased taxable value on property has gone up 11.96%, Parks said, quoting the Lake County Property Appraiser’s office.
That comes out to about $1.1 million per percentage point, Parks said.
There is also $939 million value in new construction.
The bad news is that it won’t cover all operating expenses. The top two priorities for the past few years have been public safety and roads, Parks said.
Huge increases in gasoline and diesel costs are not only affecting the sheriff’s cost of his fueling his vehicles, but also impacting the cost of having food delivered to the jail to feed the inmates.
The sheriff is seeking a $200,000 increase for that cost.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is self-insured but pays a contractor $3.6 million for inmate health care at the jail. That cost is going up by $350,000, Grinnell said. And that doesn’t include hospitalizations.
Grinnell also wants to fill vacancies and is seeking to add 19 detention deputies, 15 dispatchers, and 22 law enforcement positions.
Parks said the sheriff will be expected to increase traffic enforcement duties to stem a rising death toll on the roads.
Grinnell is also seeking to add new court bailiffs for three new, incoming magistrates.
Another major hit is money that must be used to fund the Florida Retirement System. In 2016, the sheriff’s office paid in $6.5 million. Now, Grinnell is looking at having to contribute $11.2 million.
“That’s a 72% increase,” he said.
How growth factors in
Then, there is the growth factor. Lake County, with about 400,000 people, is the third-fastest growing county in the state.
Cities like Leesburg, Groveland and Fruitland Park are annexing more territory, but those are mostly vacant properties at this point, he said.
Costs are also rising for services provided to other law enforcement agencies, like dispatching services and his crime scene investigation team, which must sometimes be paid overtime.
Grinnell knows going in that he has backing from residents, many of whom are seniors.
“The public overwhelmingly supports public safety,” he said. “Not just us but firefighters and EMTs, too.”
He delivers three or four speeches to community groups every month.
Parks says he knows how important it is for a community to have a low crime rate.
“It’s hard to regain your reputation if you have a high crime rate,” he said. “It’s also hard to attract new businesses if you have an increase.”
The county will set its tentative budget in July and the final budget in September.
“A lot can happen between now and then,” Parks said of the budget requests.
Of course, some money must be set aside for the kind of rainy day that a hurricane might bring.
“Otherwise, you have to depend upon the federal government,” Parks said.