Experience with the Sheriff's Budget $$$

This is another question from the personal blog post and my answer to the question.

Question: With the Laramie County Sheriff Department budget around $13 million, what experience do you have with million dollar budgets? And how are you equipped to handle such a budget?

Answer: For the last 10 years, I have been involved in the budget process for the Laramie County Sheriff’s Department which, in total, is over 24 million dollars; 16 million of which is allocated to the operation of the main detention facility and the Juvenile Services Center.

I have been directly responsible for these last two areas as the Jail Captain.

I am acutely aware of what it takes to direct the yearly budget of the largest jail facility in the state as well as the day-to-day budgetary needs of the Patrol Division. I have been involved in the request and allocation of the 5th and 6th penny tax revenue over the years as well as coordinating with the county grants director to secure any available grant monies each year to pay for the wide variety of essential law enforcement equipment the department utilizes instead of relying solely on the general budget requests. In any given year, using available grant funds can save the tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars. I am the only candidate running for Sheriff that has an accurate grasp of how the county budget process works and what monies can and cannot be spent on.

The taxes the county collects and draws upon to fund the various agencies are very different from how the city funds are collected and expended. I also have an excellent working relationship with the county finance department which oversees and tracks the budgets of all county departments and have worked closely for years with each of the County Commissioners to insure the Sheriff’s Office has the budget it requires to operate.