Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Last month, Erie County lawmakers approved using reserve deputies, some of whom work at Highmark Stadium, to work on the backlog of pistol permit applications. One lawmaker voted against the move, claiming the sheriff was misleading.
Jeanne Vinal voiced her objections to the plan during a meeting last month. "My objection was, is that they were represented in the budget for a number of years as seasonal employees that were going to be working at the stadium. So seasonal employees are seasonal for one thing, and second of all, they're working at the stadium that full amount gets reimbursed," says Vinal. She says they were never seasonal employees, they've been working full year round. "It was only discovered not by the sheriff coming forward with it, even though two weeks prior, made these representations in his budget request, but by our executive branches personnel and budget officials that said, 'Hey, how come the seasonal employees are working all year long?'" says Vinal.
Vinal says she also objected to the fact the sheriff's budget is high. "To give you an idea, the total county property tax collected in the budget this year is $311 million. The sheriff's budget, just on personnel, not counting overtime and all these other things, is $188 million. So it's over half of the budget is the sheriff's office, not half of the county tax is the sheriff's office," explains Vinal.
Sheriff John Garcia says there are some reserve deputies assigned to the stadium, while other reserve deputies are assigned elsewhere. He says this came about when Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns kept his office open late to accept thousands of pistol permit applications. "I had to act and make sure that those pistol permit applications were done in a timely manner. Why? Because after six months your your fingerprints expire, so all those people that put their pistol permits in would have had to pay another fee of $105 to get another set of prints. So I did not want to deprive the people of their hard earned cash and also of their constitutional rights," explains Garcia.
He says the job got done. Garcia adds it's a huge undertaking, and more fiscally responsible by doing it now with part timers. "They make a lot less than a full time deputy or officer in Buffalo or really all over the county, and they don't get any fringe benefits, no benefits, no pension, and we're able to do this in a professional manner, meaning that now the people that are doing the pistol permit backgrounds," adds Garcia. He notes all of them have gone through a Municipal Police Training Academy. Some are retired police officers and beforehand, he says the administration was using jail deputies.
Garcia says he went up to Brian Bray, the Commissioner of Civil Service Personnel, and said, 'We want to work this out, to do it right going forward.' The legislature, they all agreed," says Garcia. The vote was almost unanimous. The one no vote was Vinal.
