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Sheriff outlines 5% cuts, warns jail health costs rising as board reviews public safety budgets
Summary
Sheriff Gary Red told the Board of Supervisors the sheriff’s office met the board’s requested 5% general‑fund reduction but warned that rising jail health services paid from health realignment — roughly $300,000 higher this year — and frozen positions mean service levels cannot be sustained long term.
Sheriff Gary Red told the Amador County Board of Supervisors on April 28 that his office met the board’s requested 5% reduction in general fund support but cautioned that the savings were achieved largely by freezing positions and drawing from internal trust accounts.
“We cumulatively look at them. … He has offered up a budget that cuts his general fund draw by $810,000,” the county’s budget presenter said when summarizing the sheriff’s proposal. Sheriff Red said the agency’s total budget is about $26.7 million, with salaries accounting for roughly $19.6 million of that total.
Red said jail medical services, which are funded from the county’s health realignment allocation rather than the general fund, increased by about $300,000 because of reduced state funding. “There’s not much he could do to address that,” county staff told the board, noting jail health is largely outside the sheriff’s control.
The sheriff described how his office met the cut target by freezing hiring and using restricted trust funds — such as asset forfeiture and other designated funds — to cover large equipment purchases rather than seeking additional general fund appropriations. “That money is my savings account,” he said, describing how those funds have been used for items such as dispatch consoles and body cameras.
He warned that repeated position freezes are not sustainable: “At some point when we’re cutting this many positions … services are going to be impacted,” he said, adding emergency responses, wildfire seasons and other demands are rising.
Board members acknowledged the reductions but pressed for clarity about out‑of‑county vehicle use, administrative staffing levels and where unspent departmental revenue is tracked. County staff explained that unspent general fund dollars roll into the unreserved fund balance and become part of next year’s financing sources.
No formal vote was required on the sheriff’s presentation; the board accepted the budget direction by consensus to include the sheriff’s numbers in the preliminary budget process.
What’s next: The board will include the sheriff’s figures in the preliminary county budget and reconvene staff and supervisors during the May 5 budget workshop and the June budget hearings to finalize allocations.
