Lucas County to cut 20 deputies; union blasts move, cites safety concern

'We have to meet our budget, and … we are doing everything we can to be fiscally responsible,' Jail Administrator Jim O'Neal says. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Twenty more Lucas County sheriff's deputies will be jobless in two weeks and their positions in the jail eliminated, as remaining correctional officers and sheriff's dispatchers will be forced to work 12-hour shifts, Jail Administrator Jim O'Neal said Thursday .

"We are of the mind-set that we have to meet our budget, and so we are doing everything we can to be fiscally responsible," Mr. O'Neal said. "We've probably lost forever some young men and women that were trained that we'll never get back again. It just made it more difficult to operate things."

Union leaders blasted the move Thursday, saying the further depletion of deputy ranks forces them to absorb the county's budget woes and erodes the safety of Lucas County residents.

"They haven't said there is a need for less people, they have just said, 'We have less money,'•" said Ken Lortz, regional director for UAW Local 3056, which represents sheriff's deputies. "Nobody knows layoffs better than the auto industry.

"When you have less people buying cars, you need less carmakers. That's not the case in Lucas County," Mr. Lortz said.

Those pink slips handed out yesterday marked the fifth round of cuts since June, the first time in more than two decades the sheriff's office laid off workers.

With another 25 positions lost to attrition this year, the sheriff's department will end the year with 71 fewer positions.

The latest cuts are expected to save the sheriff's office about $9,400 per person, for a total savings of $188,000 this year.

The department now will operate within its $33.2 million 2010 budget, which was cut by $4 million from 2009, Mr. O'Neal said.

The county had been negotiating with Local 3056, which repre--sents the noncommand deputies, to consider a package of wage cuts and other concessions that would have avoided staff layoffs and saved an estimated $625,000 this year and $2.7 million next year, said Aaron Nolan, bargaining unit chairman for the union.

He declined to provide specifics of the concessions, but said negotiations seemed to fall apart Tuesday when county officials indicated staff cuts were coming.

"We were to the point where we were bridging the shortfall that was there," Mr. Nolan said. "The only thing that stopped it, we wanted to maintain the health and safety of the officers [with current staffing levels] and they refused to do that."

UAW Local 3056 likely will contest the implementation of 12-hour shifts, which union leaders believe bucks their labor contract, Mr. Nolan added.

The sheriff's office has declared a "fiscal emergency," which contractually allows them the power to make such schedule changes, Mr. O'Neal said.

Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop also spoke against the cuts, saying his colleagues "have been brow-beating the sheriff into layoffs in order to fill general fund budget holes, which I don't really think are there."

He suggested the commissioners tap the county's $10 million reserves known as the "rainy-day fund" padded by a slight boost in sales tax revenue.

Pete Gerken, president of the Lucas County Board of Commissioners, cautioned against raiding the fund, saying revenue could fluctuate based on the county's investment portfolio.

"It's like, 'We found some change in the couch. I found a quarter, but I need a buck,'•" Mr. Gerken said.

Contact Bridget Tharp at:

btharp@theblade.com

or 419-724-6086.