INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Despite pleas by county departments, nonprofit agencies and constitutional officers at Wednesday’s budget workshop, commissioners remained firm that across-the-board cuts were necessary to achieve their $259 million budget without raising taxes.Even Sheriff Deryl Loar will need to trim nearly $2.4 million from his budget request of $42.4 million. “We’re to the point where we have no sacred cows left,” said Commissioner Wesley Davis. The Sheriff’s Office was asked to cut 6 percent from its $42 million budget, but instead Sheriff Loar came in with a request for about $400,000 more than last year’s budget. “I can tell you, although you’ve heard some things today about how things won’t turn around, one thing that is steady in Indian River County is the Sheriff’s Office,” Loar said. Loar said he thought the extra money he needed could be taken out of reserves to fund his budget request.”I want you to know that I am the last one who wants to raise taxes in this county,” Loar said.Commissioner Davis suggested taking money out of reserves, but only to make needed repairs to the jail, the funding for which was to come out of the Sheriff’s budget. Chairman Peter O’Bryan concurred with that assessment.”If I’m going to go into fund balance, it’s going to be for something that’s not recurring,” Davis said.Budget Director Jason Brown agreed with Davis that fund balance should not be used for recurring expenses.”We keep cutting the Board of County Commission departments because we have been prioritizing law enforcement,” Brown said.Loar told commissioners that what the Sheriff’s Office does “serious business” and any cuts would have consequences and may end up affecting the response to an important call for service.”Law enforcement is critical to the success of this county,” he said.Loar presented a lengthy slideshow explaining the various functions of the Sheriff’s Office and the reasons why he needs to increase his budget rather than to decrease it by the recommended 6 percent.Loar reminded commissioners that his deputies haven’t had a pay raise in three years and that no one is looking for pay raises.Chairman Peter O’Bryan said his concerns center around the size and cost of non-uniformed officers who serve in administrative capacities.”To me, there’s a lot of areas where we can combine those things,” O’Bryan said.He suggested there are areas such as finance and human resources where redundancy can be eliminated and tax dollars can be saved.”I do not want to get into directing you, just like I did not want to do with (County Administrator Joe) Baird, but I do want to see a reduction in your budget,” Commissioner Gary Wheeler said to Loar.”There are things that are good to have and nice to have and are important to have,” Wheeler said, as he said earlier in the meeting, adding that this is not the year for anything in the budget to increase.”I’m confident that you can find areas in your management where you can cut your budget,” Wheeler said. “You can find in your agency ways to cut your budget like everyone else has done.”Loar made a comparison to the Emergency Services District, but Commissioner Bob Solari countered that emergency services has steadily cut every year. Solari emphasized that the commission needs to hold the line on taxes to not be the factor that could make a family short so they’re not able to make their mortgage payment.”It’s between a rock and a hard place, but that’s what four years of these economic conditions have brought us to,” Solari said.Commissioner Joe Flescher said he appreciates what the Sheriff Office does, having been a former deputy and that he wants to make sure that, wherever the Sheriff needs to cut, it cannot come at the detriment to public safety.”You know your budget, you know what you need to do to get that accomplished,” Flescher said. “I, too would like to see a reduction.”No vote was taken on the recommendations, as the meeting was only a workshop.Prior to Loar’s comments, the other constitutional officers spoke about their budgets.Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller to the Board Jeffrey Barton said his department’s workload is constantly increasing due to reporting requirements from the state, assisting county agencies and filling in for open administrative positions not filled to save money.”Everybody outside of this building keeps putting more and more on us,” Barton said. “Next year it’s going to be more and at that point we’re going to be into people who have to go.”Property Appraiser David Nolte is intimately aware of why the budget needs to be cut, he and his staff assess the property values from which the revenue figures are gleaned. He did not oppose the cuts to his budget, but did speak to the Board about what he deals with every day.”There’s an awful lot of hurting in our community right now,” Nolte said. “I would like to compliment Joe (Baird), he’s done a marvelous job at getting the budget down to what people are expecting, they certainly aren’t expecting a tax increase.”We’ve cut our staff 28 percent the past few years, but we think we can still function,” Nolte said.Supervisor of Elections Kay Clem said that she “had not slept” due to worrying about her budget and that the deep cuts would put the county in a position to not be able to handle unforseen events that might interfere with an election.”I have a dilemma and we need to talk,” Clem said.Among the items that she would not be able to afford are a backup server for her computers and the security system at the elections office. She also pointed to rising postage rates and compliance issues forcing her staff to do more with less. County Administrator Joe Baird said he would work with Clem on the server and the security system to try to get her budget down where he and the commissioners expect it to be.Clem reminded commissioners that deficiencies in elections services could lead to lawsuits and lawsuits are very expensive.Tax Collector Carole Jean Jordan told commissioners how her staff’s duties have expanded and will continue to expand as things such as driver licenses, driving tests and more stringent identification requirements increase the workload.”We are a fee-based office with all of our excess fees returning to the county,” Jordan said.
