Cumberland County finance panel hears sheriff on rising cruiser costs, staffing shortfalls and a proposed in-house computer-forensics role

Sheriff Kevin Joyce told the Cumberland County Finance Committee that the Sheriff—s Office budget will rise this year as vehicle prices, a union wage increase and new benefit costs take effect, and he urged the committee to fund a half-year criminal-forensics investigator to reduce extremely long wait times at outside labs.

Joyce said the department originally budgeted $45,000 per patrol vehicle but that recent dealer quotes push the realistic figure closer to $48,00090$50,000, and that absorption of those costs could add roughly $40,00045,000 per vehicle to the current plan. County Manager Jim Gailey told the committee those vehicle adjustments would increase the sheriff—s office request by about $711,000, raising the office—s year-over-year increase from about 8.2% to roughly 8.7% and nudging the countywide increase toward 5%.

"We're probably gonna be shy of that," Gailey said in previewing the vehicle quotes, and the sheriff later emphasized lead times: "About a year and a half," Joyce said when asked how long it takes a cruiser to go from order to frontline service.

To address a growing need for digital evidence processing,…