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The San Benito County Civil Grand Jury’s latest annual report finds the Sheriff’s Department continues to be understaffed, underpaid and its communication infrastructure “subpar.” Its 2023-24 report, released July 1, included investigations into a 1977 San Benito County Water District tax and a county retiree fund.
The Civil Grand Jury is convened annually and made up of 19 citizens who are sworn to serve as grand jurors and investigate the operations of various government departments and agencies.
According to the 34-page report, a lack of competitive salaries is among the top reasons the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department, which staffs the county jail, has a recruitment problem. This has been an ongoing issue, highlighted in previous Civil Grand Jury reports. The report states “larger agencies steal” the best applicants. It also found any savings from vacancies are spent on overtime shifts.
The report also notes the agency’s “insufficient funding” impacts its ability to upgrade its communication systems, while it outsources those services to Santa Cruz County.
The Civil Grand Jury recommends the San Benito County Board of Supervisors increase the Sheriff’s Department’s salaries, enhance benefits packages and tour the jail annually. It also recommends the county install a secondary perimeter fence around the jail following the recent inmate escape. The inmate was recaptured in San Jose within 48 hours.
The Civil Grand Jury also looked into citizen complaints regarding corruption, nepotistic practices, breaches of closed-session confidentiality, defamation, misinformation and inappropriate use of social media in local government.
“The jury’s investigative interview process revealed that the challenges facing our community are mired in dysfunction and take a back seat to the inappropriate behavior of those who are elected and or appointed to leadership roles,” the report said.
The report includes two investigations into citizen complaints which included concerns about a 1977 tax measure by the San Benito County Water District that a resident believed had expired. The Civil Grand Jury found the ballot measure wording does not include an expiration date.
“In fact the ballot measure specifically authorizes the land tax for the continued operation and maintenance of the system,” the report states.
The Civil Grand Jury recommends the Auditor’s Office add verbiage to the tax line item to clarify there is no end date.
The second complaint was regarding the county’s Other Post Employment Benefits Fund’s transfer of funds and oversight. However, the Civil Grand Jury found it is adequately funded to meet health benefit obligations and that is “appropriately placed under the purview of the County Auditor-Controller.”
The public agencies included in the report are required to submit a response to the findings and recommendations within 90 days after the final report was submitted.
BenitoLink will follow up on the Civil Grand Jury report with a more detailed article on each of the agencies that were investigated along with comments from those agencies.
BenitoLink’s Civil Grand Jury articles:
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