Sheriff's office details 2026 budget request amid staffing shortfalls, facility improvements and training gains

The Lucas County Sheriff—s Office presented its 2026 budget request Oct. 7, asking for several million dollars in additional funding tied mainly to personnel costs and outlining facility and program investments aimed at improving safety and operations.

Lindsay Simzak, who oversees personnel and fiscal matters for the sheriff—s office, told commissioners that the office installed automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in patrol cruisers and credited that equipment with saving a life in August 2025: "A man's life was saved because we had cruisers filled with AEDs," Simzak said. She also cited completion of a precinct substation that increased walk-in reports and noted year-to-date the law enforcement division handled 381 criminal investigations.

Simzak said the jail has reached full compliance with state jail and pharmacy inspections since transitioning health services to VitalCore in September 2024 and is meeting health-assessment timelines quicker than state requirements (a 6—10 day target versus the state's 14-day requirement). She credited reduced emergency-department transfers to in-house stabilization and staff resources.

On corrections, the office adopted the National Institute of Corrections' inmate behavior management model and trained 161 officers. Simzak said that in 2024 the office recorded 37 officer-related grievances and year-to-date has 10, and that the facility achieved 98% compliance on required inmate rounds using a Guardian RFID tracking system.

Staffing and retention were emphasized repeatedly. Simzak said the facility currently has 394 budgeted employees with 22 cadets in training; if those cadets graduate, the total would be 416 but remain below prior years. She reported 47 separations this year through Oct. 1, 23 of which were employees leaving for other law enforcement agencies. "It's a struggle," Sheriff Moby said, noting long-term recruitment challenges and that entry-level wages when he started were $15.28 an hour.

Simzak outlined the financial components of the 2026 request: if fully staffed at the 434.5 budgeted positions outlined in the request, the increase from 2025 would be about $7.9 million; roughly $7.0 million of that would be personnel and about $881,000 non-personnel. Specific non-personnel increases listed included an Aramark contract increase of about $71,000; the VitalCore contract increase of about $325,000 (a locked three-year contract); weapons replacement ($91,000); replacement and upfitting of five law-enforcement vehicles (~$162,000 total); an estimated $40,000 AC unit to create temperature-controlled evidence storage at the precinct; Norris computer replacements (~$68,000); and a $75,000 painting package to address ceilings and showers in approximately 28 to 30 living areas.

Major Dave Bridal described painting and maintenance plans and said much of the routine work is completed by trustee crews and coordinated with facilities; commercial quotes are in place and Lakeside is one of the bidders. Commissioners asked clarifying questions about scope and procurement; Simzak and Bridal said the painting scope, vendor quotes and funding are in place pending appropriation.

Later in the meeting the board approved an appropriation resolution to move funds from unappropriated fund balance to sheriff personnel accounts; the transcript references fund numbers and amounts in a way that is unclear in the record, but the clerk called the roll and Commissioners Gerken, Lopez and Cebecchi voted yes.

The presentation was framed as the beginning of the county budget process; commissioners said the hearing helped identify priorities as staff draft the countywide budget to be finalized in December.