Lucas might not ‘stay within the confines of’ $45.5M sheriff’s budget
Milwaukee County Sheriff-elect Earnell Lucas acknowledged Wednesday that the agency’s $45.5 million budget for 2019 that he will be handed next month could limit his ability to quickly follow through on a campaign promise to expand patrols and get more deputies on freeways and in parks.
One of the most challenging issues he will face as the county’s next sheriff is a “lack of resources,” Lucas said.
For that reason, he declined to pledge at this time that he will avoid a deficit and not spend more dollars than the County Board last month put into the department’s 2019 budget.
The $45.5 million budget for the Sheriff’s Office includes a $1.8 million increase from this year but falls short of the $59.2 million spent in 2017 at the end of the David A. Clarke Jr. era as sheriff. Clarke regularly created holes in annual budgets and left deficits for property taxpayers.
Lucas had made campaign promises to end wasteful spending of tax dollars.
“I cannot commit to stay within the confines of the budget,” Lucas said Wednesday at a Milwaukee Press Club luncheon.
He takes office Jan. 7.
The sheriff-elect did not back down from his commitment to move more “able-bodied officers” from inside jobs to patrols where they could help boost public safety throughout the county.
He specifically pointed to three senior officers who were shifted to the jail by Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt where they help supervise inmate wellbeing in the wake of recent lawsuits. Those three will be moved out of the jail and returned to patrols and other police duties, Lucas said.
Last week, Lucas announced the appointment of Denita Ball, a retired deputy inspector with the Milwaukee Police Department, as his chief deputy sheriff. She will oversee day-to-day operations of the department.
On Wednesday, Lucas said he would not name other top commanding officers for the jail, patrol, courts and airport until after he takes office. He said he wants the opportunity to work with and get to know the current command staff.
“I have no intention of making any immediate changes” within the department, he said.
Lucas currently is employed as Major League Baseball’s chief liaison of security and investigations. He plans to leave that job later this month.
He is a 25-year veteran of the Milwaukee Police Department and retired as a captain in 2002.
In addition to Ball, Lucas last month announced the appointment of Molly Zillig, an assistant county corporation counsel, to the new job of chief legal and compliance officer. Zillig will administer professional standards and training for deputies and correctional officers in the Sheriff ’s Office.