By Scott Wyman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Another salvo has been fired Tuesday in the war over Sheriff Al Lamberti’s spending -- the County Commission agreed to study a takeover of the jail system.
The commission also is asking Broward cities if they wish to offer bids to run the minimum-security stockade or security at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades.
Sheriffs oversee the jails in most of Florida. But commissioners decided Tuesday to hire a consultant to tell them if they can better run Broward’s jail and save money.
A takeover would represent a monumental power shift. The sheriff would be left with regional law enforcement and fire protection and his contracts to provide service in 14 cities. The $233 million jail operation would join the airport, seaport, parks and libraries under the direct oversight of the nine-member commission and the county administrator.
“I want to see if we can find a way to run the jail better and more efficiently than current management,” said Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger, who co-sponsored the study idea with Commissioner Lois Wexler.
Commissioner Kristin Jacobs cast the sole vote against a study. She said she feared the public perception of a power grab and that the county would be moving beyond its expertise.
“I was elected to be a county commissioner. I wasn’t elected to be the sheriff,” she said.
The commission wants Lamberti to shoulder $55 million of the $109 million budget deficit it faces this year, equal to his share of county tax-supported operations. Lamberti has proposed laying off 177 employees and closing the old minimum-security stockade, but has objected to making deeper cuts.
Whether the study, which is expected to cost less than $100,000, could help resolve the current financial problems is unknown. The new budget year starts Oct. 1 and a takeover could require months of planning.
Lamberti said he was not aware that the commission was considering a study, but said he did not oppose the idea. “They are more than welcome to research anything they want,” he said.
Commissioners said they’ve been peppered with suggestions from jail employees about how to save money on their operations. The union representing jail guards said it was willing to assist with a study.
Dan Reynolds of the AFL-CIO said jails under the control of the County Commission can operate as well as those that report to a sheriff and would provide the commission better ability to control costs. His main issue is protecting the union contracts from privatization.
“We don’t want it to be where you balance the budget on the backs of the employees, but other counties have created corrections departments and made it work,” he said.
State law allows county commissions to name the sheriff as the chief jailer, but it also gives them the power to take direct control or turn to private business for the service. Orange County’s sheriff gave up control in 1987 to focus on regional law enforcement. Bay County dumped a private jail operator last year.
Richard Mangan, a criminology professor at Florida Atlantic University, said a transition of a major jail would be challenging and likely little more than grandstanding. “It seems like they’re saying we’re going to scare you by taking away part of your empire,” Mangan said.
A majority of commissioners said the study is needed in part because of Lamberti’s plans to close the stockade. They fear they will likely need to re-open the facility and run it directly because the jail system would likely become so overcrowded that the county would be in violation of a federal court agreement to curb prison crowding.
Copyright 2009 South Florida Sun-Sentinel