Sheriff fires back over editorial

There are two sides to every story and your paper chose to magnify one incident over my 2 1/2 years as sheriff.

Did I attempt to leave the meeting in frustration? Yes. Was I wrong? Yes. I was disappointed in myself for not maintaining my composure, and it was a learning experience. I am guilty of being human.

However, the behavior of the Kane County Board members who staged a verbal assault on me was equally wrong.

That being said, many facts were overlooked or not researched before an opinion was given. First, I have endured a hiring freeze on civilian employees in 2009 and have had 4 positions not replaced during that time. I have had the number of sworn deputies reduced from 95 to 90. We are authorized for 128 corrections officers to staff the jail, yet we are staffed with only 121. We have less funding in our public safety budget than the previous sheriff had in 2005. Overtime spending in the public safety portion of my budget has been reduced over the past two years by $440,000. We have reduced fuel consumption each year. I rescinded the procedure of county owned vehicles being driven home by those who reside outside of Kane County. Credit cards have been reduced from 34 under the past administration to 8.

In 2008 we finished just under budget with a $24 million budget. Are these the actions of a bad manager and/or leader?

I have worked tirelessly to make our agency more efficient. This is a county of over 500,000 residents, and our borders encompass 520 square miles. We also are being inundated with foreclosure sales, evictions and orders of protection.

All elected offices were requested to reduce their FY2009 budgets by 1.5 percent. Ours was reduced by 2.3 percent, and at midyear we were on track to finish on budget. Then came the midyear cuts with no prior discussion. I have no doubt that had we been asked to sit down like adults and make a concerted effort to trim budgets we would have cooperated as best we could. The arbitrary number of 5.5 percent was imposed with no research or concern of the impact on services, the services the taxpayers have already paid for. Your editorial stated that a 5.5 percent reduction was small potatoes. In my budget that equates to $1.3 million. I'm glad you admitted you don't have a specific solution to the 5.5 percent cuts, because without decimating my work force, there isn't one.

It is also unfair to compare us to the private sector.

Please ask the 65,000 residents of unincorporated Kane County how they feel about having their police protection reduced and you will better understand our plight.

Patrick B. Perez

Kane County Sheriff

Sugar Grove