Stephenson County committee moves sheriff budget forward, forwards $465,000 vehicle supplemental to finance

At a Stephenson County committee meeting, members voted to move the sheriff’s fiscal year 2026 budget out of committee and to forward a $465,000 supplemental request for five Chevy Tahoe squad vehicles to the county finance committee.

The county’s sheriff’s department representative, identified in the record as Mr. Bush, told the committee the department has four new deputies in the academy who began in September and are scheduled to graduate Dec. 18, 2025. After three weeks of orientation and four months of field training, Bush said the earliest those deputies could be “road ready” is April 2026.

Bush described recent technology upgrades the department has completed or begun. He said the county purchased a CentralSquare records management system and “flipped the switch” on the system in mid-September; the department is continuing configuration and troubleshooting. He also described work with a digital-ticketing vendor identified in the record as Quikit; vendor staff were on site to verify printer installs and install software, and Bush said the department hopes to go live with digital ticketing within the next month or two. He explained that, under the digital system, deputies would enter a stop’s information once and print copies for parties rather than producing multiple handwritten tickets; the system would also transmit records electronically to the circuit clerk’s office.

On fleet needs, Bush asked the committee to approve a supplemental request for five Chevrolet Tahoe squad vehicles to replace high-mileage units. He said the department has vehicles with roughly 197,000, 187,000, 158,000, 158,000 and 177,000 miles. Pricing presented to the committee estimated $55,000 per vehicle and about $38,000 per vehicle for patrol upfitting, for a total supplemental request of $465,000. Bush said the department is phasing out chargers and pickup trucks in favor of SUVs for patrol duty and described operational reasons for the shift.

A brief exchange in the record shows confusion over a mileage statistic: Bush said a patrol unit “averages about 3 miles a month,” and multiple committee members asked whether he meant 3,000; the transcript does not resolve that figure.

The motion to approve the sheriff’s budget was offered on the record by Miss Hayes and seconded by Miss McKenna; members voted in favor and the supplemental request was sent to the county finance committee for consideration at its next scheduled meeting.

The committee record shows the sheriff’s department also reported nonbudget items including completion of a courthouse elevator project, HVAC and an ADA restroom, and an upcoming trunk-or-treat event scheduled for Oct. 28 in Rock City. Those items were reported for informational purposes only.