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Supervisors sign off on sheriff's contracts with five cities
Feb 14, 2012 (Ventura County Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The Ventura County Sheriff's Office will police half the cities in the county for $51.1 million this fiscal year, a 4.5 percent increase over the previous year.
The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Tuesday to approve police-service contracts for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which began July 1. The contracts are with the cities of Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Fillmore and Ojai, the five cities where county sheriff's deputies serve as the local police force.
The remaining five cities have independent police departments. The Sheriff's Office also runs the county jail, provides courthouse security and polices unincorporated areas in the county.
When the Sheriff's Office acts as a city police force, it charges the city the full cost of providing the service. Last year, Thousand Oaks paid $24.2 million; Camarillo paid $14.4 million; Moorpark paid $5.9 million; Fillmore paid $3.4 million; and Ojai paid $2.5 million.
"I thought the sheriff and his team did a good job on this," Supervisor Kathy Long said. "Some cities who are our contract partners are having very tough times, and the sheriff did a good job to reach our goals with them."
Long pointed to Fillmore as an example of a city with severe budget problems that was still able to reach an agreement for the police services it needs.
"The opportunity to contract is really beneficial to all the taxpayers," Sheriff Geoff Dean told the board. "It allows us to provide superior services in the most cost-effective way to the taxpayer that we can, and it is cost-neutral for the county."
___ (c)2012 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) Visit Ventura County Star
(Camarillo, Calif.) at www.vcstar.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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