SOUTH BEND — It's a war of words between the St. Joseph County sheriff and local tax protesters. Critics are scrutinizing the sheriff's budget over fear of the Local Option Income Tax.

South Bend Mayor Steve Luecke first introduced the Local Option Income Tax, or LOIT, hike late last year. The Common Council gave it the green light, but no other local government was willing to sign on.

With budget deficits predicted to grow in 2010, talk of the income tax is back on the table in both South Bend and St. Joseph County. Both councils are expected to talk about it next week.

Now the “Citizens for Common Sense” are bringing new accusations about what they call ‘irresponsible spending’ in St. Joseph County.

“Obviously somebody’s not being efficient,” said Citizens for Common Sense spokesperson Kelly Havens at a news conference Tuesday.

She claims the jail is spending tax dollars unwisely.

St. Joseph County Sheriff Frank Canarecci says important facts are missing from Havens’ argument.

“I’m sure that her motivations are well-intended,” he said. “Her argument is flawed. It just would have been much easier for Kelly Havens to call me to explain my budget rather than calling the media and making a spectacle.”

Canarecci went on to say Havens is trying to make the county police department the poster child for arguments against the LOIT.

“She needs to look elsewhere,” he said.

Havens said the number of inmates at the jail has more than doubled over the last 15 years, but the number of corrections officers has tripled. The big problem, she told reporters, is the amount of money taxpayers are giving those guards.

Canarecci said the increase in corrections officers came with new but necessary jobs when the new jail was built in 2001. For example: Transportation officers now have to take inmates to and from court, and they didn’t have to do that before; new staff was needed for the medical ward and video conference arraignment centers.

What’s more, he said the guards haven’t had raises in more than five years.

“I think, had she also explored a little further, despite the 30 percent increase in inmates over the past seven years, she would have discovered a decrease in the number of civil litigations against the county jail,” Canarecci explained.

Still, Havens said spending habits at the county jail are "just the tip of the iceberg."

“We are very confident that a department-by-department search will show the same inefficiencies exist all over city government,” she said.

“We’ve done everything we possibly can to run a safe, secure jail,” said Canarecci.

He also pointed to the $1.6 million the jail gets in revenue every year for housing federal and Department of Corrections inmates. He said no other county department brings in that kind of revenue.

South Bend’s projected budget shortfall for 2010 is $18-$20 million. The county’s is about $10 million.

To help ease those deficits by next year, two of the three local governments have to agree on the LOIT increase by July 31. The Common Council is scheduled to meet July 13, and the County Council July 14.