The Arizona Capitol Building. January 2017
Gov. Doug Ducey has had nothing but praise for his Border Strike Task Force, but one Southern Arizona sheriff thinks counties have not seen their fair share of the funding.
“When you all passed the border strike force funding, it was $28 million-plus. The four (border) counties - Yuma, Santa Cruz, Pima, and Cochise - received $1.2 million of the $28 million. That’s all we got,” Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told the Senate Commerce and Public Safety Committee Monday.
He also told committee members the sheriffs want to be at the table when decisions are made about how the money will be distributed in the future.
Officials in Pima County have long complained about the state taking money from the counties. They often point to HURF or Highway User Revenue Funds as an example. In recent years, state budget writers have kept much of that money that is supposed to be passed along to municipalities for transportation projects.
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb joined that chorus at the Senate committee meeting.
He told committee members that taking money from counties for state purposes hurts the counties.
“Last year we took a $7 million hit, which equated to about a $1.8 million budget hit on our sheriff’s office. So we have to go through and find ways we are either going to eliminate jobs or find savings, and we have pretty much worked through all those savings,” said Lamb.
Committee members asked the two sheriffs about border issues but none commented on the budget statements.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.