EUREKA -- After dealing with crippling cuts the past two years, Sheriff Gary Philp got a rare piece of good news Tuesday.
The deal struck in Sacramento late Monday night over the state budget restores a $500,000 rural law enforcement grant that the Sheriff's Department lost last year.
The budget still needs to be approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor. Philp said he's crossing his fingers because a return of the grant would help offset the estimated $4 million his department lost the past two years to budget cuts. Such cuts resulted in 32 positions being eliminated, 13 of them deputies, although only six department personnel were actually laid off.
"Our first priority would be to get more deputies on the street," Philp said. "But realizing what bad shape our support staff is in we may look at adding positions there so we can function."
Support staff is needed to help process paperwork, answer phone calls and deal with the public, Philp said.
Philp and other local officials said credit must be given to State Sen. Wes Chesbro, D-Arcata, and Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, both of whom have lobbied the past year to restore the money
"This is a great victory for rural California and it reverses a bad decision from last year's budget," said Chesbro, in a telephone interview from Sacramento.
Chesbro said the Assembly is expected to vote on the budget today, and the Senate will take it up Thursday.