Sheriff’s Office projects over $350 thousand in overtime costs for FY2027
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) – Monday, Sheriff Oscar Ugarte will give a presentation to Commissioners in El Paso County Commissioners Court on how they've made operational changes in Jail Operations in light of a $5.9 million budget deficit.
According to the Sheriff's Office presentation, the Sheriff's Office has implemented operational changes within its Jail Operations to address the department's needs and the management of its detention services.
Such changes include the Downtown Detention Facility reporting a 42.65% reduction and the Annex a 44.84% reduction in overtime since reducing staffing in both areas.
Ugarte will also give a presentation on a request to restore funds from Contingency to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office Academy Courthouse Security, Patrol, Law Enforcement, Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and Warrants divisions' overtime accounts to support current
operational needs.
Other changes include:
- Relocate and implement personnel at both the Jail Annex and the Downtown Detention Facility (DDF).
- Overtime reduction at both the Jail Annex and the Downtown Detention Facility (DDF).
According to the presentation, they're asking for a total of $652,085 in funds to be restored from Contingency and into the overtime accounts of the departments mentioned.
Additionally, Ugarte will ask for approval for overtime expenditures for pre-planned Special Operation Initiatives. Those include DWI enforcement initiatives for Fiscal Year 2027.
That funding would be taken from the operations contingencies funding.
According to the Sheriff's Office presentation, the total projected overtime costs for FY2027 are $356,304.02
The planned overtime is for DWI Operations for big holidays and events, including:
- Halloween (two-day operation)
- Thanksgiving (two-day operation)
- New Year's (two-day operation)
- Super Bowl LKI/Valentine's Day (two-day operation)
- St. Patrick's Day (one-day operation)
- Easter Weekend (two-day operation)
- Cinco de Mayo (one-day operation)
- Metallica/Limp Bizkit/Avatar (one-day operation)
- Memorial Day Weekend (two-day operation)
- Independence Day weekend (three-day operation)
- MADD Saturation Saturday (one-day operation)
- Labor Day Weekend (three-day operation)
That's a total of 12 operations, with 22 days.
For a one-day operation, staffing includes 1 Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants and 20 Deputies, with a total of $11,198.05 in overtime costs.
For a two-day operation, staffing includes 1 Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants and 15 Deputies, with a projected overtime cost of $8,091.76.
For both days, overtime costs total $20,099.81
For a three-day operation, staffing includes 1 Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants and 15 Deputies, with a projected overtime cost of $8,901.76.
A three-day operation would cost $29,001.57
The total overtime cost for all DWI Operations is $223,394.20
The Sheriff's Office is also requesting funding for six contingency DWI enforcement dates throughout the fiscal year. The funding would be for unplanned or last-minute enforcement needs not included in scheduled DWI operations.
The contingency overtime funding request is for $39,628.14, at a total of $6,604.69 per operation.
The last DWI funding request is for FY2027 Red Sands Special Operations. That includes the Turkey Trot and the Fourth of July.
The staffing for those events includes 1 Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants and 50 Deputies.
The estimated overtime cost per operation is $46,640.84. For both operations, the estimated overtime cost is $93,281.68.
In total, these are the projected overtime costs for FY2027:
- DWI Pre-Planned Operations: $223,394.20
- DWI Contingency: $39,628.14
- Red Sands Operations: $93,281.68
Total projected overtime cost: $356,304.02.
ABC-7 has reached out to the Sheriff's Office and County Commissioners for comment; they said they will speak after the item is presented to the court this afternoon.
