Mass. lawmakers deny funding for sheriffs' over-budget spending, call for investigation

Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux pushed back at state lawmakers who withheld key funding for sheriffs this week in the wake of financial scandals involving two sheriffs in Massachusetts.

Lawmakers said Tuesday they plan to withhold the “majority” of $162 million that Gov. Maura Healey wrote into a multi-billion-dollar bill making its way through the Legislature to close out the books on fiscal year 2025. The cash was earmarked to cover spending by the sheriffs that went over budget, raising “serious questions and concerns,” according to a press release from legislative leaders.

Neither lawmakers nor sheriffs have detailed what expenses the spending overruns included. Heroux said most of the $162 million is “already accounted for with stuff that [legislators] knew about in advance,” including cost-of-living increases sheriffs paid out to correctional officers and no-cost calls for prisoners.

“They know this, and they just didn’t fund us upfront,” he told WBUR Wednesday. The budgeted funding for sheriffs’ offices in fiscal 2025 originally was $738 million, according to state records.

Sheriffs are one of three entities allowed under state law to spend beyond what Beacon Hill lawmakers and the governor include for them in the yearly budget. MassHealth and snow and ice removal operations are the other two.

Sheriffs’ main role — and main expense — is to oversee county jails. They regularly spend past their limits, with taxpayers picking up the remaining tab in spending bills filed by the governor to close out each fiscal year.

But House budget chief Rep. Aaron Michlewitz said the $162 million deficit run up by sheriffs’ offices in fiscal 2025 was “a dramatic number” compared to $46 million in 2024.

“We're hearing that they might be coming in at even a more dramatic number for next year,” the North End Democrat told reporters Wednesday. “I think that we need to get an understanding of what is actually taking place here, on why we're being so off on the original number that we budget for.”

Michlewitz also pushed back at the notion that sheriffs’ offices are underfunded, telling reporters that local jail populations have been declining.

He and Senate budget chief Sen. Michael Rodrigues said the Legislature plans to withhold the extra funds incurred by sheriffs until Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro conducts an investigation into their spending habits. They made public their request for an investigation this week.

A spokesperson for Shapiro declined to comment.

The two Democrats said money for substance use treatment programs and no-cost calls for inmates would still receive funding.

“As we work to maintain fiscal stability, live within our means, and responsibly close the books on fiscal year 2025, it is clear that the Legislature must act to rein in questionable spending practices and restore public confidence in the sheriffs’ operations,” the pair said in a statement.

The push by Michlewitz and Rodrigues to probe sheriff spending comes after two sheriffs — Steven Tompkins in Suffolk County and Patrick McDermott in Norfolk County — have faced public scandals in recent weeks.

Federal prosecutors accused Tompkins earlier this year of extorting an executive at a Boston-based cannabis company. He pleaded not guilty to the accusations and filed a motion to dismiss the case against him last week.

McDermott agreed to pay a $7,500 penalty and hand over tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash in September to resolve allegations that he misused political funds to contract services for personal business ventures.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association, which represents all 14 sheriffs in the state, said the organization understands and respects the Legislature’s responsibility to “ensure fiscal transparency and accountability.”

“We welcome any review that strengthens public confidence and supports our continued focus on operating safe, efficient facilities that help people rebuild their lives,” the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.

Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley said legislative budget writers have historically used closeout budgets to fully fund sheriffs’ offices.

“For years, the sheriffs have invested in evidence-based programs that make Massachusetts a national leader in corrections and rehabilitation — especially when it comes to saving lives and improving health outcomes,” Buckley said in a statement. “These are proven, responsible investments in public safety and community well-being.”

Heroux said he is open to any investigation by the Inspector General’s Office.

“Happy to sit down with the Office of the Inspector General and go through everything we're spending money on and show that we have absolutely nothing to hide,” Heroux said. “There is no frivolous spending going on here. We can account for everything, and at my jail, it's all corrections-related.”