County creates sheriff equipment and technology fund, moves nearly $932,000 to seed replacements

Kathy Funk Baxter, finance director, and Troy (sheriff technology representative) presented a new Sheriff Equipment and Technology Fund to the Board of County Commissioners that will centralize reserves and create a recurring allocation to fund radio systems, mobile data terminals, digital‑forensics tools, tasers, body‑worn cameras and other law‑enforcement technology. Baxter said the fund will start with approximately $932,000 transferred from existing IT and motor‑pool balances and that annual cost allocation for the sheriff’s devices and equipment is estimated at roughly $330,000. "So when we get ready to do the budget amendment in about a month, the October, we'll have that on the budget amendment. So we're anticipating the fund will start with, approximately $932,000," Baxter said. Troy described projected replacement cycles and costs across multiple categories. He said mobile radios (in‑vehicle) and portable radios (carried on‑person) are significant future expenses and that the department also budgets for digital‑forensics software (the presentation updated an earlier estimate from $5,000 to $25,000 per year for the current forensic tool), mobile data terminals in vehicles, taser and body‑camera replacement cycles and other infrastructure. Troy said consolidating the reserve into a single fund will let the sheriff’s office plan replacements without returning to commissioners for one‑off budget increases. The presentation shows motor‑pool and IT had previously been setting aside smaller or inconsistent amounts for these items; moving balances into the new fund creates a dedicated, predictable pool for deferred replacement. Troy also noted the sheriff’s office uses its digital‑forensics capability in multi‑agency investigations and sometimes recoups costs when assisting neighboring jurisdictions. Commissioners asked about radio interoperability with neighboring counties and whether upgrades preserve cross‑county communications; Troy said some interoperability depends on geography and radio bands and that a migrated, multi‑band system (a "scribe band" system in the presentation) would improve interagency communications. Ending: Staff will present the fund transfer as a budget amendment in October and continue to bring projected replacement schedules and subscription vs. capital tradeoffs to future budget discussions.