Pasco County sheriff asks for 9% budget increase amidst population growth
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - As the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners reviews budget requests for the upcoming year, Sheriff Chris Nocco is pleading for more funding.
The county is one of the fastest growing in Florida, but the Sheriff says resources are being stretched thin to cover the booming population. Despite requesting a 2024-2025 budget of $164.5 million on May 1, he says that amount doesn't even come close to covering the costs of what his department really needs in order to keep up.
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For the last few years, the Sheriff’s Office has automatically received 40% of the new property taxes generated because of the county’s growth, and that's where the $164.5 million number came from.
In a letter to commissioners and an April workshop presentation, he first outlined what the initial budget amount would pay for.
It would allow him to prioritize hiring ten new patrol deputies for the upcoming year and give all of the department's employees salary increases.
He made a point of saying that the county needs to keep up its salary and benefits packages for employees so they can stay competitive with surrounding agencies.
But he was very adamant about needing much more. Since July 2023, he said Pasco commissioners approved another 10,000 residences across the county, which equates to a need for at least 40 additional deputies compared to ten.
He estimated that hiring those 40 deputies would cost around $8.3 million in the first year and an additional $4.9 million annually, not including raises and benefits in the future.
He's also requesting resources to enhance deputy safety, like new swat vehicles and armored vans that would cost around $725,000 , plus a $300,000 pole barn to protect them.
In addition, $650,000 in upgrades was requested for the forensic units so they could process crime scenes more efficiently.
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Nocco said the county’s penny sales tax, which pays for deputy vehicles, doesn’t cover all of the cost, and commissioners also need to take into account.
In a statement to FOX 13, Sheriff Nocco said:
"The Pasco Sheriff’s Office is not opposed to growth, but as our community grows needed resources such as first responders must also grow. The budget request letter and my presentation to the BOCC in April reflect those needs as our calls for service continue to grow with our growing community while the amount of deputies we are funded by the BOCC to hire are not keeping pace."