The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is asking for $21 million in additional funds this year to bolster its staff, something Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says says would be worth the investment.
With 77 percent of Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputies having less than three years of experience, Gualtieri says the extra money will be used to hire and retain employees.
County commissioners are working on a budget. Gualtieri, meanwhile, has created a presentation for commissioners, pointing out that the funds he’s requesting are making up for years of being underfunded.
"There’s no ‘wants’ in that request," Gualtieri said. "It’s all needs. It’s vehicles and it’s other equipment that’s essential to get the job done.
"We’ve had a significant amount of attrition. Some of it was due to people previously leaving the agency before we had the structured pay plan. We weren’t able to retain and recruit the best of the best and we had people that were leaving."
Despite that, the sheriff said the deputies the department does have are doing an excellent job. He said they’ve managed to keep crime down and he’s confident commissioners will provide him with the funds he needs.
"They (commissioners) understand it, and they’ve very supportive of what we need balanced against what the economic realities are," he said.
Commissioners will continue meeting over the next few months, holding weekly budget workshops before finalizing the 2016 budget.
The fiscal year starts in October.