Pubdate: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Grand Junction, CO) Copyright: 2006 Cox Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.gjsentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2084 SHERIFF SEEKS BIGGER BUDGET TO FIGHT METH At any time, day or night, there may be five to seven Mesa County Sheriff's Department deputies patrolling 3,346 square miles of the county. And that's it. Sheriff Stan Hilkey, who is also the fire marshal for the county, oversees the county jail, is in charge of search and rescue, serves civil papers and performs a slew of other duties, is aware of the numbers. In his $20.5 million budget proposal for 2007, which he will present to the Mesa County Board of Commissioners Nov. 13, he is asking for 16 additional full-time employees - nine patrol deputies, two deputies for added court security and five administrative personnel. It is the largest addition of employees in at least the last six years and would bump up the number of department employees from 208 to 224. The budget request is an increase of approximately $2 million from the department's projected 2006 year-end budget of $18.5 million. By state statute, the county commissioners have until Dec. 15 to approve the 2007 budget. Mesa County has $146.3 million in available funds. Hilkey's request represents 15.4 percent of the county's overall budget. The Sheriff's Department falls under the umbrella of public safety, which is requesting about 25 percent of available funds. The Department of Health and Human Services is requesting about 26 percent. Combined, the two represent half of Mesa County's budget. The additional dollars and personnel being requested by the Sheriff's Department are needed to fight the growing problem of methamphetamine in Mesa County, Hilkey said. "The methamphetamine culture within Mesa County is directly or indirectly involved in nearly every criminal investigation," according to the sheriff's budget proposal. The commission of a burglary, a car theft, an assault or a robbery is often the end result of a quest to come up with some fast cash to buy meth. The drug is the No. 1 reason why Mesa County's crime rate has been rising faster than the county's population for the last six years, Hilkey said. Mesa County's crime rate has increased 31 percent from 2000 to 2005, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Using United States Census Bureau population estimates, Mesa County experienced a 11.7 percent increase in population during the same time frame. In Hilkey's opinion only a few members of that growing population are responsible for the increase in crime. "We know that it is really a very small percentage that is causing the majority of our workload," he said. To get a better handle on that small population of lawbreakers, the sheriff will be asking for $181,581 to maintain the Street Crimes Overlap Team, which was created in May. The five-deputy team was given two prime directives: Cover the streets during shift change; and track known offenders and bring fugitives to justice. "And we have made an impact," Hilkey said. "I think it's been a great success. We can't sustain it, though." In order to create the unit, Hilkey took advantage of available manpower and used School Resource Officers during School District 51's summer break. Now that classes are back in session, Hilkey said, the unit's future is in jeopardy unless the county commissioners approve his request. The sheriff also wanted to add eight deputies to patrol. But after making an initial budget request a month ago of $22.8 million for a total of 29 full-time employees, he (as was every other Mesa County department) was told to scale back his proposal. The sheriff is now asking for 16 new employees, and of that number four are patrol deputies at a price tag of $145,264. The four additional deputies, Hilkey said, would help in the department's fight against meth and increase its ability to deal with another common complaint from residents: traffic. "Ninety percent of the people in the valley are not affected by meth, but they are by traffic," Hilkey said. "The constituency gives you a whole lot of feedback, and traffic is a big one." In addition to street-level policing, the sheriff is responsible for keeping order in the court, where Hilkey wants to add two more deputies at a cost of $72,632. Hilkey also wants to increase staff in a few key departments. His request includes a crime analyst, with a salary of $49,400, to keep track of crime statistics and spot trends or target areas where certain types of crime are bubbling up. And he is asking for a grant writer for $45,156 and two full-time employees to be paid $25,843 apiece to do background checks on prospective Sheriff's Department employees. The sheriff also wants to have one investigator devoted to monitoring convicted sexual offenders living in the county for $33,296 a year. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine