After about two hours of debate, the Alachua County Commission didn’t reach a decision on whether to approve Sheriff Sadie Darnell’s appeal for about $500,000 more than her approved budget.
But J. K. Irby, the Alachua County court clerk, offered a solution to the dispute — the Commission might be able to give the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office some unused funds budgeted for constitutional officers, which includes the department.
Irby said he isn’t sure how much money is left in that part of the budget, but he initially thought there could be about $300,000. He said his accountants are figuring out the amount and said there may be some “wiggle room.”
The Commission will discuss his suggestion at its Dec. 7 meeting.
The sheriff suggested that the Commission fund her request by using some of the surplus that her office returned from the last fiscal year, which was about $700,000.
Darnell said she was disappointed that the issue hasn’t been resolved yet, but said she will be at the meeting to see what happens.
She said she needs the money to compensate for increased state retirement rates and county insurance rates.
“Believe me when I say it, I cannot absorb the half a million dollar cut,” she said.
Commissioner Rodney Long said that in order to approve Darnell’s request, the Commission would need to rewrite about three budget policies.
Commissioner Paula DeLaney offered to sit down with Darnell to discuss a compromise.
Then, Irby quietly gave his suggestion about seeing if unused money from the constitutional officer’s part of the budget could go to the sheriff’s office, which would be within current policies.
The Commission agreed that his suggestion was the best way to resolve a disagreement that has lasted more than four months and has left both sides frustrated.
“Why are we just hearing about it now?” Commissioner Mike Byerly said. “This would have been a good solution to the problem four months ago.”
