PASCO COUNTY, FL. – On Thursday, Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco and County Administrator Dan Biles, on behalf of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners, announced that, effective October 1, 2022, management of the Land O’Lakes Detention Center will transition from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office back to the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners.
Sheriff Chris Nocco said, “Decisions such as this are never easy. Increases in contracts, including medical and food services are a reality every year for the County Detention Facility, having a direct budgetary impact on the operations of the Sheriff’s Office, impacting our ability to address the continued growth in our county.”
“To be clear, managing the County Detention Facility is not the Constitutional responsibility of the Sheriff’s Office. Recognizing this, as well, the Board of County Commissioners has additional financial options to deal with these types of increases. The Sheriff’s Office does not have access to reserve funding. Because of this, should a contract increase in the middle of the year, it directly impacts Sheriff’s Office operations,” said Nocco.
This timeline, with the transition occurring on October 1, 2022, also reflects the reality of the expansion of the Land O’Lakes Detention Center. As that expansion comes to fruition, contracts must be renegotiated and costs will likely increase.
Additionally, the Detention Center expansion will require approximately 250 additional staff to manage based on National Institute of Corrections staffing analysis, once it is fully operational. Discussions regarding these concerns have been ongoing in the preceding years and I discussed the most recent concerns at the December 7, 2021 meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.
This transition allows the County to manage those contract increases, required staffing increases, and address any financial needs, again with the extra resources they have available.
“When these budgetary increases are considered with the continually growing population in Pasco County, leading to additional demand for law enforcement services, it became clear that this decision must be made. Unfortunately, Pasco County is currently 64th out of Florida’s 67 counties in terms of law enforcement deputies per 1,000 and I am committed to working with our County Commission to address this issue,” said Nocco.
Nocco added, “We are grateful for the partnership with the Board of County Commissioners. This is the same model, with a joint operation between the Sheriff’s Office and the County, currently utilized by County Dispatch that successfully serves our community. In addition, this county financially operated jail model currently exists in Orange and Osceola counties.”
Those that will be transitioning to become county employees will maintain their same rate of pay, tenure, rank and membership in the Florida Retirement System. This was very important to me, as well as the Board of County Commissioners.
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