First Round Of Sheriff Layoff Notices Set To Go Out Today

The first round of layoff notices were slated to go out to Riverside County sheriff’s deputies today, just days after Sheriff Stan Sniff announced he may have to slash 500 positions to meet the Board of Supervisors budget target.

The first wave of layoffs will involve 100 deputy sheriffs and correctional deputies that will end their duties on July 13, according to sheriff’s Corporal Courtney Donowho.

Cities like Palm Desert that contract with the sheriff's department for policing services will not be directly impacted by the cuts, unless the individual cities elect to cut their public safety budgets, Donowho said.

The layoffs will be concentrated in the jails and patrol operations in unincorporated communities.

But Sniff said the proposed cuts would cause “turbulence throughout the sheriff’s department as the workforce shrinks in order to meet the proposed budget.”

Supervisor John Benoit called the proposed cuts “serious,” adding that other county agencies have already had to cut up to 40 percent of their budget.

“But there could be another 40 [percent cut] to those agencies if we don’t also take some small slice out of public safety agencies,’’ Benoit said. “We don’t want to do it, but the consequences to every other county service is almost unconscionable.

The supervisor said he believes three factors could lessen the law enforcement layoffs.

“Frankly, if we can get employee bargaining units to come to the table to try to help us out, and if the Governor's budget doesn’t hurt us any more than it already has, and if the economy begins to improve a little bit and we see some green sprouts, we like to think that we can avoid most - but probably not all -  the layoffs that may be coming," Benoit told Patch.

Benoit said that the proposed cuts could bring patrol levels down, but not to historic levels.

“We'll have to do with that until we see a little better and a little more light at the end of the tunnel,’’ Benoit said.

The sheriff’s department consumes the largest share of the county’s general fund.

Sniff's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, is between $40 million and $60 million beyond the threshold established by the county’s Executive Office.

City News Service contributed to this report.