Sheriff's Department Sends Out Second Round Of Layoff Notices

A second round of 100 sheriff's deputies received layoff notices this week, as the department seeks to comply with the Board of Supervisors proposed budget, a sheriff's official said.

Sheriff Stan Sniff announced in May that he may have to slash up to 500 positions and send out 800 notices to employees.

The cuts depend on the outcome of the June 13th budget hearings by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

"If the CEO's budget proposal is approved, it will take us years to dig ourselves out of the mess this creates for our criminal justice system and the allied law enforcement agencies we work with in Riverside County," Sniff said.

The department also released a list of reassignment and transfers as it prepares to remove staffing support for "multi-agency gang task forces, sexual predator teams (SAFE), and frontline drug task forces that deal with marijuana dispensaries and the like," according to sheriff's Corporal Courtney Donowho.

The transfer list will be put into effect on June 20, Donowho said.

The Board is expected to approve the county's budget at its June 13th meeting.

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.

Riverside County Supervisors Jeff Stone and Marion Ashley met May 24 with county staff to look at alternatives to the proposed budget cuts.