Portsmouth sheriff cuts services, demands better pay scales

PORTSMOUTH

Sheriff Bill Watson says his inmate work crews no longer help collect trash, board up vacant houses, wash municipal vehicles or perform many of the other chores that had benefited the city.

"I've heard it's killing them," he said last week.

Watson last month publicly gave city leaders until the first of the year to address making his deputies' pay comparable to others in the region or he'd pull his crews. He objected to being left out of efforts to raise the pay of city public-safety workers. He said low pay was costing him too many deputies to other cities because they needed to "feed their families."

Kenneth Chandler, the city manager, said through a spokeswoman that he didn't know what the sheriff's crews had been doing, and therefore couldn't say whether the three-week stoppage has affected costs or the workloads of other city workers.

Some City Council members said they haven't heard of any problems, although Marlene Randall said she has noticed more litter along highway ramps.

Council members said they will discuss the city's supplement toward deputies' pay during the upcoming budget sessions.

The state provides the bulk of deputy pay, because the sheriff is an elected constitutional officer and not a city employee. Localities may choose to supplement that pay, either at flat or varying rates, and to pay for additional personnel. Portsmouth fully funds 19 sheriff employees and covers a third of the pay for a dozen others hired under a grant, according to the Sheriff's Office.

All this comes as governments - local to federal - cope with revenue shortfalls and spending cutbacks that are projected to worsen because of the faltering economy.

The Sheriff's Office said that inmate crews no longer help with garbage collection, the city garage and other shops, or with general maintenance crews that painted, moved furniture, helped board up vacant buildings and performed other labor for city departments - even moving display items for the downtown Winter Wonderland decorative exhibit - jobs it says were done largely at the city's request.

Sheriff's Office records show inmates worked 99,738 hours last year, the bulk of it on city details, which the office estimates to be worth $960,561 in wages. Inmates on the crews work 40-hour weeks and can earn $6 an hour credit against fines owed.

Deputies also have stopped setting up radar traps and patrolling school zones for speeders, although Watson said they'll still stop someone if they witness unsafe behavior, such as reckless driving.

The city doesn't track whether police officers or sheriff's deputies write the traffic tickets that provide revenue, said Betty Burrell, its chief financial officer. But Watson said his office generated $500,000 a year in such fines.

Now, he said, "If it's an expired sticker, let the P.D. handle it."

His crews, however, still cut grass at fire stations, clean lots and cemeteries at the request of civic leagues and nonprofit groups, and wash fire equipment, police cars and school buses - but no longer other city vehicles.

"The kids are not going to ride around on dirty school buses," Watson said. "The city vehicles - let them get a bucket."

The Community Enforcement Unit, a crime-fighting patrol, continues to work because it's not financed through city funds, Watson said. Free funeral escorts also will continue, he said.

He said he recently bought a new $900 log-splitter and a used chipper and stump grinder, using funds raised by inmate canteen purchases, to begin providing free firewood from downed trees to Portsmouth's older and disabled residents.

"I hate to put undue stress on other city workers," Watson said. "But we're not the city galley slaves - we're not going to row the boat while they get the view."

Councilman Douglas Smith called it unfair to link pay plans for the city with those for state employees. Watson should press the state for improved pay, he said.

"At the end of the day, his employees are state employees," Smith said. "And our obligation, first and foremost, is to our employees, to city employees."

Portsmouth pays starting deputies $30,405 a year. Of that, $28,234 comes from the state, and the city chips in a supplement of $2,171 once deputies graduate from their training academy.

In the region, Southampton County and Newport News pay slightly less. Norfolk pays $30,791.72, with $2,557.72 of that the city supplement. Others in the area pay more, with Chesapeake the highest at $39,182 to start, with the city supplement ranging from $8,319 to $13,866.

The figures come from the cities, the Virginia Sheriffs' Association and the Virginia Compensation Board.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com