Going over budget is common for Joe Arpaio.
He won't remind you that he's required by law to balance his budget or else he's forced to answer for his spending. But that doesn't mean he won't plan to spend more money than he's budgeted because he knows the Board of Supervisors will bail him out. [read more]
Deputies go without while senior staff go to Honduras.
At the same time he's sending his senior staff to Honduras for questionable junkets, Arpaio's Financial Chief sends a memo to staff telling staff to cancel training and his Chief Deputy tells staff to recycle "paper clips, binder clips and folders." [read more]
Changing their story why they broke the budget.
Arpaio's office gave four different reasons why they exceeded their annual overtime budget in four months "a mistake," too many critical investigations (which local communities have discovered they didn't actually conduct), thwarting a bogus assasination plot, and an increase in violent crime. Which one is it? [read more]
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Wild Spending and Lack of Accountability
Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to spend wildly with our money. In the Sheriff's Office, spending is at an all-time high, climbing to $256.8 million in 2007 from $90.8 million in 1997. In addition, the Sheriffs Office has paid out over $45 million in lawsuits since Sheriff Arpaio has been in office. He would like you to believe it has never happened before, but those with good memories recall in 2001 he was projected to end the fiscal year between $6 million and $10 million over budget.
Phoenix New Times: Joe Arpaio's Balloon Payments (2001)
This unprecedented increase in spending comes at time when Arpaio’s jurisdiction has been shrinking. The county's ratio of unincorporated population, those people served solely by the Sheriff, has been dwindling over the past decade, which should be a call for decreased spending. Less than 10 percent of the people in Maricopa County are served solely by the MCSO, yet he continues a pattern of uncontrolled spending that provides no benefit for the people living in the cities that don’t rely on him for regular police work, but continue to foot the bill.
Earlier this year it was reported by The Arizona Republic that Arpaio’s office had already exceeded part of its budget by more than $1.3 million -- just four months into the fiscal year.
Arpaio spent more in the first months of the year for overtime than he was to spend for its entirety. This has caused a ripple effect through the Maricopa County criminal justice system as sheriff's deputies have failed to transport jail inmates to their court appearances and some courts lack deputies to take defendants into custody.
Fox10 News: Maricopa County jail visitation hours changed to hold down costs
The lack of funding to trasnport inmates has caused criminal court judges to threaten the Sheriff with contempt of court charges if inmates cannot be safely escorted to and from courtrooms.
How did the Sheriff spend his entire years overtime budget in four months? The answer varies depending on who and when you ask the Sheriff’s Office. The answer given in an Arizona Republic article on November 6, 2007 was that it was simply a “mistake.” Later in November a spokesperson for Arpaio told The East Valley Tribune that overtime was used on multiple large-scale investigations, including a years-old probe into a Mesa towing firm.
Arizona Republic: "Sheriff is more than $1 mil over OT budget
In June, Arpaio said “many of the deputies’ extra work hours went toward investigating an alleged assassination plot against him, while a spokesperson added that patrol deputies also worked overtime shuttling inmates from jails.”
Tucson Citizen: Unraveling 'plot' to kill Arpaio cost $500,000
Tucson Citizen: Supposed plot to kill Arpaio doubted
In July, still another spokesperson for the Sheriff said that a rise in violent crime caused the spending surge. Yet an article in the Aug. 1, 2008 Arizona Republic reports "Police on Friday announced a 6.4 percent decrease in violent-crime reports, while the overall violent-crime rate dipped by 8.5 percent per 100,000 residents," its largest drop in ten years. The question voters should ask the Sheriff's office is this: "How can crime be up and down at the same time?"
Arizona Republic: Police: Crime down in 1st half of '08
KPHO Phoenix: Phoenix Crime Rates Drop
These varying explanations led an East Valley Tribune investigation to conclude on July 10 that “the sheriff’s finance records and criminal activity reports do not support MCSO officials’ explanations. And, in fact, they don’t seem to know what caused it. MCSO officials say they haven’t researched what caused the overtime spending.”
East Valley Tribune: Overtime led to MCSO budget crisis, records show
Our conclusion? Simple really. As the jurisdiction and responsibilities of Sheriff Joe Arpaio have continued to grow smaller—his budget has grow larger; much, much larger. Don’t forget—that’s our money.
Can you help?
Do you have a story that helps explain why Joe's got to go? Send it to us at: info@joesgottogo.com