In an effort to make up some of the county
’s massive $160 million budget deficit – and save the jobs of
many of their own – the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department
will be raising nearly all of its fees beginning today.
In an effort to make up some of the county’s massive $160 million budget deficit – and save the jobs of many of their own – the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department will be raising nearly all of its fees beginning today.
Although details of the fee hikes are still being hammered out, the price of acquiring a permit for a concealed weapon, having the Sheriff’s Department respond to a false burglar alarm and being booked in county jail will all increase by as much as 100 percent.
For example, the booking fee for county jail is preliminarily scheduled to increase from its current $140.50 to $302, according to budget proposals submitted to county supervisors.
In March, county supervisors asked the Sheriff’s Department to trim $8 million from its $83 million annual budget.
To avoid massive layoffs along with other cuts, the Sheriff’s Department is proposing to raise all of its revenue-producing fees so it can save 34 of the department’s 81 positions proposed to be chopped by the budget axe, Sheriff’s spokesman Terrance Helm said.
But even with the proposed fee increases, South Valley’s rural deputy position and its fish and game warden will be condensed to one title, and one of its two plain-clothes deputy positions will be cut, Helm said. San Martin’s school resource officer program with the Sheriff’s Department will also be cut.
