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Saturday's Internet Edition, July 31, 2010.
Wilton Service Center to close by end of July
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Photo by Fran Soto
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department plans to close the Wilton Service Center (WSC) as part of an effort to close a $37.6 budget deficit. The WSC is currently located on Jeff Brian Lane next to the Wilton Post Office and will be closed effective July 31.
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By Fran Soto
River Valley Times Staff
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The Wilton Service Center (WSC) will be closing effective July 31 due to reductions in the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Dept. (SSD) operating budget. The WSC is located on Jeff Brian Lane next to the Wilton Post Office.
According to Lieutenant Rosie Enriquez, commander of the WSC, non-sworn staff will be reassigned, and sheriff's deputies will continue to be assigned to Wilton but will be deployed from another service center.
The 65th Street Florin Service Center in Sacramento is the closest service center to Wilton, but Enriquez stressed that no announcement has been made as to which location will respond to 911 calls from Wilton.
“The decision has not been made where deputies will be responding from, but all service centers in the south area including Bond Station will be closed,” Lt. Enriquez said. “I have been directed to strip the Wilton building of all furniture, computers and phone lines by the end of the month.” The SSD will still be responsible for the lease on the center.
The SSD general fund needs for fiscal year (FY) 2010/11 for the department are $192.3 million. The proposed general fund allocation for FY 2010/11 is $154.7 - leaving a deficit of $37.6 million. To help close this gap, the SSD is looking not only at closing service centers, but also at staff reductions and not filling vacancies.
The SSD is also asking the public for input on how to best deal with the deficit and offering a choice of cutting patrol units or releasing inmates.
VIPS (Volunteers in Partnership with the Sheriff) will disband with the closure of WSC, although they have the option to volunteer at the 65th Street center.
According to Wilton resident and VIPS Richard Gunn, the VIPS are encouraging residents to contact Sheriff McGinness in hopes that the proposed closing of the WSC will be reevaluated. “The VIPS are at this moment having a postcard printed that will be available to the community after Friday, July 9 to send to the sheriff,” said Gunn, who serves as county president of the VIPS. “Residents can get the postcards at the service center.”
The community of Wilton will see a lot of community service vanish with the disbanding of the VIPS. These volunteers participate in street and sign cleanup; school programs and festivals; the Wilton Firefighters’ Association Chili Cook-Off; Christmas toy delivery; e-waste; child fingerprinting; graffiti cleanup; code enforcement; crime reports; marijuana eradication program; delivering holiday meals to needy families; vacation checks; calls to elderly and homebound and many individual events. They also hold fundraisers with proceeds returning to the community.
In an effort to continue to serve the community, the 20 VIPS met Wednesday, July 7 to discuss their options. “We decided as a group to try and encourage the community to respond to this decision by the sheriff and see if we can get him to change his mind,” Gunn said. “I think that it is important that, if the community wants to maintain the presence of deputies and volunteers and the service centers themselves, they need to write to the sheriff.”
Gunn went on to say that if the center closes, the VIPS will stay together as friends and may consider forming a non-profit so that they can continue to serve the community in some capacity.
With the WSC closing, residents must file online crime reports. Online reporting has already shown that fewer crime reports are filed. Enriquez said reports of crimes not filed can sway crime statistics and could be responsible for support services and resources being pulled from the area.
“I am deeply saddened for the residents of South County," she said. "I am so impressed with the dedication of the VIPS, staff and the citizens and how they have stepped up to the plate and supported the sheriff in his time of need,”
Enriquez added, “The VIPS have been instrumental in getting support for the sheriff. We had over 400 residents attend our National Night Out last summer. No other bureau can boast that amount of support; they really came to support the sheriff’s department.”
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