El Dorado County sheriff says casino payments not enough

El Dorado County is to receive $500,000 annually for 20 years for law enforcement under a pact with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. But the county sheriff said that won't cover the staffing and equipment that he expects will be needed to handle the anticipated increase in calls for service that will come with the opening of Red Hawk Casino.

That word from Sheriff Jeff Neves took the Board of Supervisors by surprise last week as it considered transferring the first $250,000 payment from the tribe to the Sheriff's Department and authorizing the department to add six deputy positions and a sergeant's position for casino-related coverage.

Neves also requested approval to purchase two patrol vehicles and related law-enforcement equipment.

Under a 2006 settlement that ended more than a decade of county lawsuits seeking to block the casino, the tribe agreed to pay the county at least $190 million over 20 years to offset the casino's impacts.

The tribe agreed to pay $250,000 of the first year's payments six months before the casino's anticipated opening to give the Sheriff's Department time to purchase equipment and hire officers.

The casino is scheduled to open late this year on the Shingle Springs Rancheria, north of Highway 50 between Shingle Springs Drive and Greenstone Road.

Neves said it takes at least 11 months to hire and train an officer.

But board members said the county could face a funding gap if deputies began work before the casino opened, because the remaining $250,000 won't be paid until the third and fourth quarter of the casino's first year of operation.

Asked whether he had the budget to absorb the new employees if the casino's opening were delayed, Neves said he did not.

"Then we have a distinct budget problem," said Supervisor Jack Sweeney.

"I have a public safety problem," Neves replied.

The sheriff said the situation is complicated because he is already short of deputies, with five vacancies, 11 deputies in training at the academy and eight on leave.

The only reason the department is in as good of shape as it is, he said, is that no deputies have retired in the past year. But seven have indicated they plan to so in the coming year, Neves said.

"We have the challenge of the casino. We don't have sufficient staff," the sheriff said.

Supervisor Ron Briggs asked whether the $500,000 a year the county is to receive for casino-related law enforcement is sufficient, and Neves said it is not.

The total cost per deputy is about $125,000 annually, he said.

"You're telling me the work force is $1 million per year and the allocation (from the tribe) is a half-million (dollars) per year," Sweeney said.

Neves said he wasn't consulted during the county's negotiations with the tribe.

Supervisor Norma Santiago said she feared the county would end up subsidizing law enforcement for the casino if it approved the sheriff's request, something the board had said it would not do.

Supervisor Briggs argued that the memorandum of understanding with the tribe should be revisited.

"Renegotiate the actual cost of county services," he said. "Perhaps hand them a bill for what we spend."

But Supervisor Helen Baumann said law enforcement was her foremost concern.

"I'm not going to challenge him when the sheriff says what he needs," she said.

Neves said he planned to stagger the hiring over the year.

"If the casino doesn't open in six months, we won't be so far down the road that we don't have time to adjust," he said.

The sheriff's request required approval of at least four of the five supervisors, but Briggs and Santiago initially voted against it.

Supervisor Sweeney said he believed the board's action violated the contract with the tribe, leading the supervisors to rescind their action and take up the matter in closed session.

Upon reconvening, they voted 4-1, with Baumann opposed, to place the $250,000 in a reserve account for the Sheriff's Department and authorize the hiring of deputies.

The motion did not include approval to purchase of vehicles and equipment.