by Charles Sheehan, Associated Press
PITTSBURGH, Penn., (AP)- Allegheny County council has intervened with a bailout that averts, at least temporarily, a showdown between the county’s chief executive and sheriff about staffing.
Earlier this month, Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey demanded that Sheriff Peter DeFazio lay off nearly two dozen sheriff’s deputies to address a projected annual budget overrun of $2.8 million.
On Thursday night, council approved about $950,000 in funding for the department. The current allotment for the sheriff’s office is $9.9 million. The bailout passed with enough votes to preclude a veto by Roddey.
Following weeks of sniping between Roddey and Sheriff Peter DeFazio, the county Deputy Sheriff’s Association published a full-page newspaper advertisement, an open letter to President Bush, questioning Roddey’s patriotism, in Thursday’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen at a time when every executive in this country is taking measures to increase law enforcement services and improve security. We cannot allow this to happen on the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy,” the full-page ad read.
Roddey condemned the attack Thursday. He said the sheriff’s department is distorting its role in protecting the public.
“It’s a pandering of a national tragedy to promote the sheriff’s patronage-bloated payroll,” he said. “The real front line of defense for our community is the municipal, county and state police, not the sheriff’s office which is an arm of the courts.”
Following council’s bailout vote, Hank Pulkowski, assistant chief deputy, said DeFazio would hold back on a threatened lawsuit and hopes to negotiate with Roddey over “regional booking centers.”
The sheriff’s department said the centers cut the time required to process prisoners, but the county has long contended that the centers are unnecessary.
“He has increased size of his entire staff from 143 people in 1998, to 204 this year,” said Allegheny County spokeswoman Margaret Philbin. “The entire (county) government is down nearly 1,000 people in the same period of time.”