Sorting out what’s going on with the Benton County sheriff’s overtime budget has been a bit like putting together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the picture looks like.
You can tell there was something there, it just took a while to see what it was.
At this point, this is what we see: A new, eager sheriffwho wants to make a good impression who got caught off guard by how quickly numbers can add up.
A Quorum Court that didn’t ask as many questions as it should have early on in the year and, likethe sheriff, got an unexpected and unpleasant surprise.
A county treasurer who realized after the fact that she needs to provide more detail to both the sheriff and the Quorum Court about how money in the department is fl owing.
Regular readers recall that a couple of months back, the Benton County Quorum Court called on fi rst-term Sheriff Kelley Cradduck to explain overspending in his overtime budget to the tune of $300,000. Cradduck explained the overtime had to do with extra patrol shifts that will be reimbursed by federal grants, a crowded jail that needs minding, and a more active, more effective law enforcement agency arresting more criminals.
The Quorum Court, chagrined the budget numbers had gotten so out of line, nonetheless amended the budget to account for the overage.
Its members also pledged to do a better job of monitoring things so there aren’t so many surprises.
So no, what happened in the Sheriff ’s Oft ce wasn’t all Cradduck’s fault, as we asserted in an earlier editorial, nor was it completely unavoidable.
But the controversy did reveal a critical fact: More care needs to be taken by the sheriff , the Quorum Court and the treasurer’s oft ce to avoid last-minute budget fixing on such a large scale.
Look, Benton County could spend every dime it takes in on law enforcement. We’ve never met a sheriff (or any other elected oft cial, for that matter) who can’t find a way to justify spending every dime made available to them, and more.
Any sheriff, if his decisions are only driven by doing everything possible to pursue criminals, will have a dift cult job staying within a budget.
But managing such an agency requires setting priorities, allocating resources eff ectively and getting the most bang for the buck. It may not be rocket science, but it does require constant diligence.
Cradduck surely knows this, but knowing and doing it effectively are two diff erent things.
Fortunately for him, he can learn, if he’s paying attention and not withdrawing into a defensive posture every time someone questions his decision-making.
Cradduck is very good at telling his agency’s story and staying current on law enforcement trends. He appears to be working to modernize his department. As he enters 2014, the fi rst year for which he must fully own the budget for his agency, it’s fair for Benton County taxpayers to now expect the sheriff to live within the spending limits of his budget or to seek more authorization from the Quorum Court before he spends it.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/28/2013