Oversight committee digs into sheriff's finances
Post-Tribune
February 21, 2017
Lake County officials on Tuesday pressed the Sheriff's Department to explain its accounting practices in an effort to curb continual budget overages.
The Lake County Sheriff and Jail Budget Oversight Committee probed for explanations into any past due payments, ordering and billing practices, and forecast for potential shortfalls in 2017.
"I think there's a lot we need to delve into," said Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington, D-Merrillville. "This is not a witch hunt."
The Lake County Council last week created a new oversight committee, with subpoena power, to delve into the Sheriff Department's finances. The council decided to create the committee after the department asked to pay almost $170,000 in 2016 bills out of the 2017 budget, which was a part of a trend of budget overages the county has seen during the last few years.
"Every time you do that you set your current year budget up for a shortfall," Washington said. "We cannot keep doing the same."
Melanie Dillon, the department's finance director, said throughout the 2016 budget year, she transferred money to cover overages in some of the line items after being told to find the money within the budget.
With the food bills, Dillon said those are always paid a month late and she tried to do as much as possible to cover that budget line.
"I knew I was going to have a shortfall," Dillon said.
The department is like a multi-million dollar business, Washington said, but can't manage its expenses.
"My biggest gripe since day one has been our inability to manage our bills," Washington said.
Sheriff John Buncich said his department cannot fully anticipate what its expense will look like because of emergency costs that come up throughout the year.
"There's so many unforeseen things that come up," Buncich said.
In December, Buncich said he got a call early in the morning that the boiler at the jail went out and that needed to get fixed immediately.
The jail has 650 security cameras, mandated by the Department of Justice, and if one goes out, it must get fixed, Buncich said.
The population at the jail was 815 inmates Tuesday morning, Buncich said, and he anticipated buses from Gary, Hammond and East Chicago that would only increase that number. Buncich said he's getting more inmates with several heroin and alcohol addiction issues that further tax the jail's resources.
"There are just so many things that come up in the middle of the night we cannot predict," Buncich said.
Auditor John Petalas said knowing the fluctuation in the jail population, the department almost has to budget for a higher number of inmates.
"If you don't, you're going to have this problem every year," Petalas said.
County Commissioner Mike Repay, D-Hammond, questioned why the department didn't use a purchase order for its expenditures.
Dillon said, for example, an October purchase order to one vendor was for food delivered in September.
Repay said he didn't understand why someone doesn't place the orders with a purchase order.
"That's what we need," Repay said.
Lake County Councilman Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point, said he looked through the reports and found a number of budget lines that already appeared to be heading for a shortfall.
Dillon said the costs associated with overtime, garage and motors and other items come out of several budget lines. With overtime, Dillon said it's paid out of two overtime lines.
"With those two combined, I personally don't see where there could be a shortfall," Dillon said.
County Councilman David Hamm, D-Hammond, asked why the budget still shows purchase orders and invoices from 2014 and 2015.
"That concerns me," Hamm said.
Dillon said she just received a bill last week from services in 2014.
Buncich said the excuse he hears most often from vendors who are late submitting bills is that it's the government and they're going to get their money.
