Interim sheriff outlines budget priorities as supervisors press for staffing, AB 109 details

Interim Sheriff Vicki Hennessy told the San Francisco County Expanded Budget and Finance Committee that the sheriff’s department’s top priorities for the 2012–14 budget cycle are managing state realignment under AB 109, addressing long-running staffing shortfalls and improving jail information technology.

"Realignment goals are to collaborate with our partners to create and implement a continuum of meaningful in-custody and post-custody services designed to, pardon me, monitor progress and reduce recidivism," Hennessy said while presenting slides and high-level projections to the committee.

Hennessy provided an early snapshot of the department’s caseload and capacity: about 204 average monthly inmates in custody related to AB 109, representing roughly 8.6 percent of the department’s jail capacity, and an average inmate length of stay of about 40 to 53 days. She said the department’s average daily census is about 1,550 and that facility capacity is approximately 2,200.

The sheriff said the department has had no sworn hires in roughly three years and is conducting a comprehensive staffing analysis using a validated National Institute of Corrections instrument to identify current needs, potential reclassifications and hiring priorities.

Maureen Gannon, the department’s chief financial officer, said the department’s current-year overtime spending is about $7.3 million, under a $9.0 million overtime budget, and the department is aiming to hold overtime in the $7.5 million to $8.0 million range in the upcoming year.

"We27ve lost about 50 FTEs," Gannon said in describing recent staffing reductions, and she cautioned that the department27s fixed-post staffing model means deputies must be spread across posts even when housing units are closed, limiting near-term reductions.

Hennessy described operational constraints that limit consolidation: classification requirements, gang separations and protections for vulnerable inmates reduce usable bunking capacity to roughly 80 percent in many units, she said.

On technology, Hennessy said the department needs better integration of its Jail Management System (JMS) with courts and other criminal-justice partners to provide timelier data and to avoid manual workarounds, and she described plans to implement an integrated inmate assessment and risk-management tool called COMPASS. She also said the department is working with the mayor27s office and the city27s technology group on hardware and server upgrades.

Committee members pressed for more fiscal detail. Hennessy said she inherited a budget that had already been submitted and is working with the mayor27s budget office to make adjustments; she cited a mayor27s office estimate, provided by budget analyst Melissa Howard, that about $5.0 million in state realignment funds could offset general-fund costs, but she emphasized projections remain uncertain.

Supervisors also asked whether the sheriff27s office could support hospital coverage and other department needs to reduce citywide costs. Hennessy said the department is in talks with the police department and the Department of Public Health but that staffing constraints prevent immediate reassignment until the staffing analysis is complete.

On programs, officials clarified that 5 Keys Charter School operates as a separate charter school funded directly by the state (and some private foundations) and is not paid from the sheriff27s departmental budget; Hennessy said about 250 people in the jails are enrolled in 5 Keys programming.

The mayor27s budget office, represented by Cindy Serwin, said it is working closely with the department and offered to share summaries of realignment expenditures and anticipated costs across departments.

The committee did not take a final vote on the department27s budget; Chair Carmen Chu asked to continue the item to the call of the chair, and the committee agreed "without objection," postponing final action pending staff follow-up and the upcoming staffing analysis.

Next steps: Hennessy said the staffing analysis should be finished within about a week; the mayor27s budget office offered to provide additional realignment-expenditure summaries to the committee.