As it has the past few years, the department of Dukes County Sheriff Michael McCormack will continue to face budgetary uncertainty this year.

So said Sheriff McCormack this week after news leaked that the effort from Gov. Deval Patrick to assume budgetary control of the seven county sheriffs still elected independently in the state appears headed for defeat.

Under the governor’s proposal, which went before a public hearing of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security on March 12, the state would assume the costs of payroll, health and retirement for the sheriff departments.

The draft bill, part of Governor Patrick’s recently released budget plan for fiscal year 2009, would affect the sheriffs of Barnstable, Dukes, Nantucket, Bristol, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties.

Sheriff McCormack, Dukes County treasurer and acting county manager Noreen Mavro Flanders and county legislative liaison Russell H. Smith were among those who testified against the bill at the public hearing. The bill would turn the 44 employees of the county sheriff’s department, including Sheriff McCormack, into state employees.

The governor’s proposal is a response to continuing concerns from the sheriffs over the multiple sources used to create their budgets and regular delays from the state in delivering funding packages.

Currently, the funding for the sheriff’s budget comes from three sources: town assessments, deeds excise taxes and state appropriations.

Sheriff McCormack’s budget for fiscal year 2008 was $3 million. His proposed budget for the coming fiscal year is projected to be $3.6 million.

“Although in general I support the concept of the commonwealth helping out the sheriffs with their budget issues, the house bill had some language that needed to be deleted and language that needed to be added,” Sheriff McCormack told the Gazette following the hearing. “I am not in support of the bill as it was written.”

In his testimony, Sheriff McCormack specifically opposed a section of the bill which would sweep all revenues generated by his department into a general fund. These monies, averaging about $100,000 annually, include revenues from federal grants and civil process fees and are used by the sheriff to help fund his operations and to supplement the costs of inmate programs. Sheriff McCormack asked that this section of the bill be eliminated.

The same request was made in a letter signed by six of the county sheriffs, including Sheriff McCormack. Nantucket Sheriff Richard M. Bretschneider, who has asked to be exempt from the legislation, did not sign the letter.

Also in his testimony, Sheriff McCormack requested that, should the bill pass, specific language be added to ensure the sheriff remains an elected official. “The language of the bill is sort of vague,” Sheriff McCormack told the Gazette. “Since it is silent on this, it needs to be there in writing.”

The proposal is vague in other areas as well. According to the bill, the state would take over the county house of correction in Edgartown, but it is not clear whether other property now occupied by the sheriff’s department, including the sheriff’s office in the county courthouse, the communication center at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport and the community corrections center, would be affected. Sheriff McCormack believes they will.

In addition, the governor’s plan will eliminate town assessments, a move which his office has said will save the towns within the seven counties an estimated $10 million. But the Dukes County Commission and Ms. Mavro Flanders have questioned this claim.

“I want somebody to prove to me the savings they’re going to have,” the acting county manager said this week.

According to a budget aide to Governor Patrick who was quoted in a State House News Service article this week, the spending blueprint for the coming fiscal year does not project any savings from the reform. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity.

At the March 12 hearing, some county sheriffs came out in favor of a state takeover and some were against it, but all were united in their opposition to the bill as written and demanded answers to their lingering questions.

“There are too many questions at this point for this to move forward,” Ms. Mavro Flanders said. “If [the bill] is the answer for the sheriff’s budget problems, we need to iron out all the details before it becomes law.”

Following the hearing, each member of the Dukes County Commission signed a letter in support of Sheriff McCormack, which they sent to the state Executive Office of Administration and Finance. On March 20, following a presentation from Sheriff McCormack and Ms. Mavro Flanders, the charter study commission voted to draft a similar letter.

The governor’s bill must be approved by May 1 for it to take effect in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The public safety committee took no action in the hearing. “I think it’s unlikely you’ll see action other than a study on it at this point,” committee house chair Rep. Michael Costello told the State House News Service.

“The administration filed this and they were painting sort of a rosy scenario that all the sheriffs were on board, that it would be a benefit to the towns,” Cape and Islands Rep. Eric T. Turkington said. “When people started looking closely at it, it turned out to be a different picture.”

Although stalled progress on the bill could be seen as a triumph for Sheriff McCormack who opposed its wording, it ultimately offers no solution to his budget concerns.