By the numbers, the growth in the Marion County Sheriff's Office budget is indefensible. Prior to the merger of the policing duties of the Sheriff's into IMPD, as shown in the table from the latest edition of the IBJ, the budget was $110 million. It dropped $26 million, or about 24%, to $84 million in 2007 following the merger. It's been growing dramatically over the past several years and is expected to be $111.5 million, about 33% above its level the first year following the merger, averaging annual increases of about 5.5%. Layton wants to increase his budget next year to $119 million, an increase of 6.7%. Mayor Ballard's budget for 2014 would give him $108 million. If money is not restored to his budget, Sheriff Layton tell the IBJ that he plans to stop transporting IMPD arrestees to jail and pull deputies who guard arrestees and inmates being treated at Wishard Hospital. Sheriff Layton says that neither of those duties are mandated to be performed by his office. Despite the merger of the law enforcement duties into IMPD, the Sheriff's office still employs 666 deputies. Layton has a friend in City-County Councilor Mary Moriarty-Adams, who chairs the Public Safety Committee. She says she intends to restore as much of the funding as possible. Her husband works for the sheriff's office, which should disqualify her from participating in those budget discussions. Any source
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