Commissioners reject sheriff’s office cut
Budget for 2021 would have cut $17.8M in funds
Shelby County commissioners voted Monday not to cut 10% of the sheriff’s office budget for fiscal year 2021, a cut that would have come to $17.8 million.
The cut was proposed by Commissioner Tami Sawyer. Her proposed amendment would have put that money toward the community services department.
“Defunding the police is not an attack on policing,” Sawyer said. “It is support for the community, for the things they need most, so their needs are met by this county before we throw them in the back of a jail.”
Steve Leech, chief administrative officer for the sheriff’s office, said a cut that large would inevitably have meant cutting personnel, particularly from the jail, which is already struggling to meet state staffing requirements.
“We would probably have to close the jail,” Leech said.
Law enforcement would also have had a reduced ability to cover all districts in the county and would not be able to cover newly de-annexed areas of the county at all, Leech said.
Commissioners ended up voting 4-7 on the amendment, with commissioners Van Turner, Reginald Milton, Mickell Lowery and Sawyer voting in favor.
Sawyer’s proposal came as several cities have taken steps based on the rallying cry to “defund the police” heard at protests across the country after the death of George Floyd.
In Los Angeles, the mayor
announced that he would change a plan to increase spending for the police department and instead redirected as much as $150 million to other programming. In New York, the mayor has aid he will shift funding from the police department to youth initiatives.
And in Minneapolis, where Floyd died after a white officer pinned him to the ground for nearly nine minutes, nine members of its City Council have pledged to entirely dismantle the police department.
In Shelby County, Sawyer's proposed amendment was met with mixed reactions from fellow commissioners.
Commission Chairman Mark Billingsley said he appreciated the conversations happening, but saw the amendment as punitive against the sheriff's office. He also noted that many emails had been sent in support of the amendment.
Commissioner Amber Mills also opposed the amendment, pointing out that most of her district doesn't have its own law enforcement and instead relies on the sheriff's office.
But Commissioner Reginald Milton said he was glad to see “outside the box” thinking, and that people need to come up with alternatives to relying on law enforcement.
“I think this is a conversation that needs to take place,” said Commissioner Van Turner, who has criticized the use of force against protesters in recent weeks. “I don't see this as something that ends the conversation. I see this as something that begins the conversation.”
Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner also spoke to the commission via live stream as Leech, his chief administrative officer, paced in the background. An $18 million cut would be “devastating,” Bonner said
“To take an almost $18 million cut, there's no way the sheriff's office can continue to function the way we're functioning,” Bonner said.
Shelby County Commissioners continue to work through their budget for 2021.