Rising fuel, ammunition costs lead to spike in Sheriff's Office proposed budget

High fuel prices not only affect the everyday consumer. They also drive up the cost of law enforcement.

In addition to 19 positions the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office wants to add to its payroll in fiscal year 2023, the cost of automobile, aviation and boat fuel is a significant driver in the department’s proposed $19 million increase over the current year in its preliminary budget request.

Sheriff Kurt Hoffman’s $152.52 million budget proposal is a 14.3% increase over the $133.47 million adopted for fiscal 2022.

“This is something that I think maybe most citizens don't know. We drive almost 7 million miles a year, driving through your communities and protecting your communities,” Hoffman told county commissioners during their recent budget workshop. “That includes, diesel and aviation and ATVs and boats. This year, the fuel budget went up almost a million dollars. We've had two fuel increases in the last couple of weeks that have been brought to us, particularly on the aviation side.”

To help manage fuel price volatility and avoid mid-fiscal year budget amendments to account for it, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis told commissioners his office is exploring with suppliers a fuel risk management program that will lock in prices for a year, similar to the way some airlines hedge against fuel cost spikes. While that would provide protection from sudden price hikes, it would also work to the county’s disadvantage should prices drop, as they have in recent weeks.

“That would allow us to fix the price for the year so your budget would not have the volatility that it has now,” Lewis told commissioners. “Then if the market goes in our favor, we're still locked in at that price. If the market doesn't go in our favor we're still locked in at that price, so at least you can budget for it. It can work very, very successfully, so we're actively working on on that particular issue, not just for this time, but even in normal times it would be beneficial.”

The price of gas notwithstanding, sheriff’s deputies cannot drive those 7 million miles a year during the very real possibility of a disruption in the fuel supply.

“The only thing worse than paying a high price is not having access to what you need to run your vehicles,” said Commissioner Nancy Detert.

“We do have some stockpile capability,” Hoffman replied. “We can buy into thousands of gallons in volume, but that only takes us so far. Eventually, if there's a shortage that is going to to impact us.”

Fuel is just one escalating cost impacting the Sheriff’s Office budget. Ammunition is becoming more expensive as well. Not that the deputies are firing their weapons regularly on the  streets of Sarasota County, but they are doing so on the firing range. Training as they always have, Hoffman said, will continue, which means more money required for ammo.

As chairman of the county’s Criminal Justice Commission, Hoffman attended a discussion presented by the Florida Department of Corrections that it is considering cutting costs by reducing live-fire training. He also recently attended a County Sheriffs of America conference where he learned several counties are parking their helicopters and patrol cars.

Hoffman takes the opposite view, explaining his position for the increases in his preliminary budget.

“We’re going to drive the 7 million miles. We’re going to continue to train. In fact we're going to be shooting more ammunition this year for a variety of reasons in terms of the equipment that we're bringing on board,” Hoffman said. "I can't in good faith park cars like some sheriffs are around the country. I just don't think our community would accept that. They want to see those patrol cars they want to see that helicopter patrolling.”