Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco was set to request county supervisors’ authorization Tuesday to hike the blanket rate charged to 16 cities and other contract entities for which the sheriff provides police services. Five of those cities are in the Coachella Valley: Coachella, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage.
The sheriff is seeking a 7% increase in the base hourly rate charged for the use of patrol deputies. The jump, which officials said is needed to recoup higher costs incurred by the department, would be retroactive to July 1, 2024.
Under the revised rate schedule, the cost of a sheriff’s patrol deputy would rise from $214.47 per hour to $229.55 per hour…