Two Maricopa County executives said Thursday they will appear before a federal grand jury next week to testify about allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others in his office have abused their power.

County Manager David Smith and Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson said they met with representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office on Wednesday to prepare for the grand jury.

Arpaio denied knowledge of the grand jury. "I'm not commenting about the grand jury or what's occurring," he said. "If people are saying it, let them say it. We're going to continue doing our job."

Federal grand juries composed of local residents meet in secret to hear testimony to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hold a trial.

Witnesses, however, are not prohibited from talking about the grand jury, which uses subpoenas to gather evidence.

If the grand jury hands up an indictment, a trial would determine guilt or innocence.

Smith and Wilson are scheduled to appear at the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. They were told that their testimony may take several hours over several days. "We were told that we are now federal witnesses, and we will be protected," Wilson said.

Based on their discussions with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Smith said the grand jury appears to be focusing on a variety of issues.

Among them are budget negotiations, the county's courthouse project, deputies questioning county employees at their homes, threats of investigations of county employees, and a fight over a criminal-justice computer system.

"I'm certainly gratified that the system is starting to work, where this kind of abuse of power is looked into by a competent authority," Smith said. "A lot of people have suffered; now I think that from the U.S. attorney, with respect to Sheriff Arpaio, justice will be served."

The Justice Department announced last year it was also conducting a civil investigation into allegations of racial profiling against the Sheriff's Office.

Representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix, the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and the FBI office in Phoenix would not comment on the grand jury.

Since at least May, county employees have regularly met with FBI officials about Arpaio and allegations of misuse of power, according to Republic sources interviewed by federal agents.

However, sources said Thursday it's unclear if the grand jury is a result of those conversations.

Over the past year, county leaders have fought over money and authority.

The fights originated among top officials at the county, the Sheriff's Office and the County Attorney's Office but have recently enveloped midlevel employees in other departments.

The conflict has created a breakdown between agencies, unnerved staff and cost taxpayers more than $2.9 million in legal fees and an untold amount of staff time.

Wilson, who oversees the county's budget, traces the breakdown to last year's budget negotiations with Sheriff's Chief Deputy David Hendershott.

Those negotiations, along with everyday administrative functions, were criminalized by the Sheriff's Office, she said.

Smith said he spoke with the U.S. Attorney's Office about these issues:

� Budget negotiations. In summer 2008, the Board of Supervisors directed agencies to make massive budget cuts in the face of an economic freefall. Hendershott accused Smith of threatening him, trying to intimidate him and attempting to thwart criminal investigations. Smith denied the allegations. The Sheriff's Office eventually took a budget cut.

� Court tower. When budget cuts were ordered in late 2008, Arpaio began to publicly point to the county's $360 million criminal-court tower under construction in downtown Phoenix as a waste of tax dollars. Detectives later launched an investigation into the project. No charges emerged, but the allegations against county elected officials, administrators, attorneys and judges appeared in a broad civil racketeering complaint filed in U.S. District court in December 2009.

� Wiretap sweeps. In December 2008 and March, county officials hired a company to sweep the county-administration offices for listening devices. Hendershott told The Republic that he would investigate the legality of the sweeps.

� Information requests. In June, the Sheriff's Office asked for calendars, e-mails, and office and cellphone logs for 36 county employees. A sheriff's spokeswoman said the request was "for a criminal investigation." Throughout the year, deputies questioned many county employees in their homes.

� Computer system. In August, the Sheriff's Office took control of the Integrated Criminal Justice Information System from county employees after the office filed a lawsuit to try to get control of the computer system. The system links the county's criminal-justice agencies to state and national databases.

The sheriff's investigations of Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox, who were indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury last month, were not identified as part of the federal grand-jury inquiry.

Arpaio and Hendershott have contended all along that their investigations into county operations are to thwart attempts by county officials to micromanage the Sheriff's Office.