Sheriff Staffing Loss Continues

Polk County Sheriff Bob Wolfe announced the loss of another patrol deputy from his already stretched resources.  Deputy Casey Gibson was temporarily hired last year to help out with budget reductions has accepted a position with the Monmouth Police Department starting May 1, 2014.

"Deputy Gibson helped us out last year by agreeing to fill a vacant position which would have become full time had our Public Safety Levy passed last November," stated Sheriff Bob Wolfe.  With the failure of the levy, Deputy Gibson was given notice his position would be eliminated on June 30, 2014 due to continued budget reductions for the Sheriff's Office.

I am very grateful for the assistance of Deputy Gibson this last year and happy that Monmouth Police Department is getting a great police officer, stated Sheriff Bob Wolfe. 

This puts my staffing level at eight patrol deputies; however, currently four of them are assigned to Grand Ronde under an agreement with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, so I am still restricted to only ten hours of patrol a day.  Under the current tentatively approved budget on July 1, 2014, the Sheriff's Office will no longer be contracting with the Tribe, and those four deputies will be put back on county patrol, which should allow the Sheriff's Office to return to 20 hours a day of patrol coverage. 

Sheriff Bob Wolfe stated, "What concerns me is I still have several more employees seeking employment elsewhere so if I lose more employees, I will most likely not be able to return to 20 hours of patrol in July.  With no stable funding source, we will continue to lose experienced deputies, and little likelihood that anyone will seek employment with us."

The base tax rate of $1.71 per $1,000 of assessed value is unable to sustain public safety services after the loss of federal timber payments.  Sheriff Bob Wolfe stated, "The current proposed budget already includes the last round of timber funds, which only means that in July of 2015 there will be more staff reductions unless other funding sources are secured."