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| Committee nixes island sheriff pay raises |
| By Kyle Cheney |
| Published: 04/14/2009 |
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Boston, Mass. - A legislative committee on Monday rebuffed Gov. Deval Patrick’s effort to raise the pay of two county sheriffs and began a process that the committee co-chairmen say could lead to the elimination of two sheriff’s offices. The governor’s bill, intended to facilitate budget savings by folding seven county sheriffs – and their thousands of employees – into the state, stoked public ire with a provision that would’ve raised to $123,000 from $97,000 the salaries of the sheriffs in sparsely populated Dukes and Nantucket Counties. That raise would bring the two sheriffs in line with other county sheriffs across the state, despite a miniscule house of correction in Dukes County, or Martha’s Vineyard, and none at all on Nantucket. In a letter accompanying his bill, Gov. Deval Patrick said his proposal would provide “more stable and predictable budgeting” for the sheriffs’ offices. The letter made no mention of the proposed pay raises. Administration and Finance Secretary Leslie Kirwan defended the raises when the bill received a hearing last month, calling them a “small issue” compared to the $6 million to $9 million that she estimated would be saved under the bill. The bill, scheduled to go into effect on July 1, would bring sheriffs and employees from the two islands and Barnstable, Bristol, Suffolk, Norfolk and Plymouth counties onto state benefit and payroll systems and end the practice of supporting sheriffs through real estate deeds revenues, which have slumped along with the real estate market. Local officials, like county commissioners, have said they had concerns that the bill leaves municipalities within the counties with unfunded retiree health care and pension liabilities. The state’s 14 sheriffs are elected by residents in each county. Sheriffs oversee each county’s house of corrections – except for Nantucket, which has none – the treatment and transportation of prisoners, reentry programs for ex-prisoners, correction officer training and programs for inmates. Inmate programs include drug rehabilitation, anger management and parenting skills. In their bill, committee members largely agreed with the governor’s proposal. However, the bill approved by the State Administration Committee maintains the Dukes County sheriff’s salary at $97,000, equal to 75 percent of the pay of an associate justice of the Superior Court, and lowers to $71,000 the salary of the Nantucket County sheriff, about 55 percent of the salary of a Superior Court associate justice. “That is a very fair salary for an official that does not have any house of corrections and has responsibility that does not seem to match that of the other counties,” said Sen. Brian Joyce (D-Milton), the co-chairman of the committee. The committee’s bill also seeks constitutional means to eliminate or consolidate sheriff’s offices, which both committee chairmen said could spell the end for the two island offices. An eight-member commission established by the bill would study general consolidation and cost-saving efforts and report back by the end of the year. Committee co-chairs Rep. Steven Walsh (D-Lynn) and Joyce said constitutional questions prevented them from including consolidation provisions in the bill. The special commission will include a member of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association, a county commissioner and two appointees each of the governor, Senate president and House speaker. Walsh said eliminating the two island sheriffs and empowering the Barnstable sheriff to cover their territory, for example, would create a structure similar to district attorneys, and would justify paying each equally. He said he believed it could be accomplished without a constitutional amendment, noting that the “constable” system predated the Massachusetts constitution. In his fiscal 2010 budget proposal, Patrick proposes $481.8 million to be doled out among the 14 sheriffs, with Suffolk County receiving the largest appropriation ($94 million) and Nantucket the smallest ($809,000). The sheriffs’ offices are expected to employ 6,208 people in fiscal 2010, according to the governor’s budget. Of those employees, Nantucket employs just three and Dukes 44. Barnstable, Bristol, Suffolk, Norfolk and Plymouth Counties employ between 377 and 1,104 workers. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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