Clackamas County approved its budget at a meeting this week.

The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners agreed to allocate $1.2 million from a public safety levy, as well as $5.3 million in general funds, to help fill the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office’s budget deficit for fiscal year 2024-25.

The commissioners, as well as fellow budget committee members, were incensed to find out in late May that the sheriff’s office had overspent budget appropriations and needed the commission to greenlight additional funding so it could continue services as normal for the last few weeks of the fiscal year.

Sheriff Angela Brandenburg explained during the budgeting process that she went over budget to comply with the commission’s directive to keep hiring. However, some commissioners like Paul Savas wanted Brandenburg to tap levy funding, which provides $13 million annually to support public safety, rather than relying on additional money in the general fund (which is stressed currently due to the county needing to pay $15 million annually for the next two years to pay for expenses related to the new courthouse) to hire new positions. The levy can cover “mental health/medical beds in the jail, body-worn cameras on sworn deputies, and additional patrol deputies, jail deputies, and detectives to support Sheriff’s Office critical functions.”

Chief Executive Officer Gary Schmidt said during the meeting that Brandenburg (who was not there) would not agree that using levy funding is a good idea. The county sheriff’s office and the regular county finance department have different projections in terms of  how quickly the sheriff’s office would run out of levy funding, and Brandenburg and the commission seem to have different philosophies for how and when to utilize levy funding versus other sources.

However, Commission Chair Craig Roberts, who used to be the county sheriff, felt that the levy would run out of funding before it expires in 2027 and the commission will need to think hard about appropriating more funding to fill the gap if that happens.

Savas, meanwhile, voted against the supplemental budget and wanted the county to utilize more of the levy dollars. Sixteen of the 86 levy positions have yet to be filled, although the sheriff’s office said that applicants for 10 of those positions have accepted job offers.

The board of commissioners previously approved a budget for the sheriff’s office for fiscal year 2025-26 with less funding than Brandenburg had requested, but in line with increases that other departments received (4%). Schmidt told the commission this week that Brandenburg is considering putting forward a layoff plan in response to the funding allocation and the commission was informed about one job offer within the department that had already been rescinded.

“I’m hearing from upset deputies that somehow have the feeling as though we didn’t appropriate enough money to do their job, when there is enough money,” Savas said at a meeting this week.

In May, the budget committee also approved a number of motions including the eventual merging of the county and sheriff’s office finance department processes and requiring more oversight earlier on in the process when a department goes over budget.  Also approved was additional auditing to make sure the county’s expenditures are in line with its 30-year forecast.

If the county had agreed to the sheriff’s office request for 2025-26 funding, the county projected that the local government’s finances would go into the red in 11 years – and face a deficit of  $249 million in 30 years.