Please allow me the opportunity to express the concerns that I have from the perspective of a 25-year employee of the Walker County Sheriff’s Office. First, let me emphasize that whoever desires to run for public office has the right to do so as long as the voting public votes him/her into that office. I am retirement age and have no problem expressing my concerns about things that have been publicly promised by Sheriff Steve Wilson’s opponent.
I have been present at all but one of the public forums for the sheriff’s race this year. I heard Mr. Stultz promising that if elected, he will put resource officers in all unincorporated schools within the Walker County School district. I also hear him repeatedly talking about the advancement of pay among all employees for the sake of employee retention. I heard him talking about all of this advanced training and he continually states, “If you work for me you're going to train, train, and train some more.”
I think probably in a near perfect world he could deliver all these things he has promised everyone if he were to be elected. Sheriff Wilson is a very fiscally conservative elected official. He has the task of managing all the many facets of the functionality of the sheriff’s office while keeping it all within a prescribed budget.
The facts are that about 45 percent of the annual budget is consumed by mandates. The law requires a sheriff to maintain the jail and the courts. The jail mandates take around 30 percent and the courts around 15 percent. When an offender is arrested, a sheriff must maintain all the things that are afforded to them by law, things such as nutrition, special diet, medicine, medical procedures, psychological evaluations and treatment. The cost of maintenance in a jail is extremely costly and is increasingly getting more expensive.
The sheriff is also required to have courtroom security daily in all courthouse proceedings. There are many other unfunded mandates that must be administered before anything else. When all that is satisfied he must then decide how to run the other facets of the sheriff’s office for the safety and security of the people he serves with the remaining 55 percent. Many times that requires a sheriff to sacrifice many things he wants, to accommodate the things that are needed to stay within the confines of what has been budgeted. It is a constant chore to balance all of these things and still maintain public safety all while keeping the property taxes from increasing.
In all the forums and public speaking events, I have not heard one suggestion as to how he plans to pay for all of these new implementations. I would urge all voters to beware of one who is offering all of these new ideas and implementations and not an idea of how he plans to pay for it.
I think the people of Walker County should be proud that they have had such a fiscally conservative sheriff that has the safety and well being of those he serves in his best interest. For the better part of 28 years he has served Walker County with honor and distinction.
Sheriff Wilson isn’t going to promise anything that he doesn’t have the ways and means to deliver. That would be reckless and irresponsible. Beware of one promising you something that sounds too good to be true, because it typically isn’t. Please vote Steve Wilson again for sheriff, he is the best choice by far.
Sgt. Bruce Coker