Alachua County Commissioners met informally Tuesday afternoon and discussed what to do about the sheriff’s appeal to the state Cabinet for more funding.
Sheriff Sadie Darnell is appealing to the Cabinet for $507,451 more than the $65,034,686 sheriff’s budget approved by the Commission in May.
It is unknown how long the appeal process will take, but Commissioner Mike Byerly thinks it could last a few months.
“I would guess that it would definitely go into the oncoming year,” he said in an interview.
If the process stretches into January, it could put Darnell’s request in front of Republican Governor-elect Rick Scott.
This fall, Darnell appeared in a campaign commercial for Alex Sink against Scott, in which the sheriff said, “Rick Scott’s company was guilty of record Medicare fraud.”
Darnell was traveling on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
Last year, Darnell returned a surplus of $711,905 that her department did not use. She has asked that the commission allocate money from those funds to meet her request.
Lee Pinkoson, the new chairman, said he thought the Commission wouldn’t grant the requested budget change just to stop Darnell’s appeal.
Most of the commissioners said meeting the sheriff’s demands would set a bad precedent.
The commissioner suggested that instead of granting additional funding, the sheriff could transfer money from overpaid parts of her budget, such as patrol, and move it to the areas she’s concerned about.
Byerly said that the Commission does not control how agencies spend their money, but he is concerned that if it gives her extra funds, they may have to consider micromanaging agencies’ budgets.
He said the Commission has enough money for the request, but it has already determined the approved budget was the right amount.
“Sometimes you do what’s right and you stick to your legal guns,” he said.
Commissioner Rodney Long said that the debate is about 1 percent of the budget, and the Sheriff’s Office will not be in financial straits while the debate is settled.
“The county government is not going to shut down because we have a discrepancy,” he said.
Commissioner Paula DeLaney said that she would like to speak with Darnell one-on-one before she decides anything, but for now she agrees with Byerly that the commission should not change the budget.
The appeal will be discussed at the next Commission meeting on Tuesday and the Sheriff’s Office will present its arguments on Dec. 7.
