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Hennepin County hears sheriff's 2026 budget request that emphasizes staffing, 911 volume and enforcement results
Summary
At an Oct. 6 Administration Operations Budget Committee hearing, Sheriff DeWanda Witt outlined priorities for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and a 2026 budget that emphasizes personnel (about 80% of the request), increased operating costs, and public-safety investments tied to higher property-tax revenue.
Hennepin County officials heard the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office 2026 budget request during an Administration Operations Budget Committee hearing on Oct. 6, 2025.
Sheriff DeWanda Witt told the committee that “a major component of my request is people,” saying personnel account for roughly 80% of the proposed Sheriff's Office budget. County administration later characterized the countywide proposed 2026 budget as $3,090,000,000 and said it was based on a maximum property-tax levy increase of 7.79%, adopted by the board Sept. 25.
The county administrator’s office briefed the committee that the Sheriff’s Office 2026 proposal would increase overall expenses by about $13.2 million, or roughly 7.8% over 2025, and described an increase in property-tax support for the sheriff’s office of about $18.5 million (a 12.8% increase compared with 2025). County staff also noted a formula error in the printed budget materials that incorrectly identified 2025 adopted full-time equivalents in the packet; corrected materials were posted online and placed on the meeting table.
Witt framed the request around public-safety functions and named five priorities: violent crime reduction; opioid overdose awareness and prevention; reform through programming; recruitment and retention; and community engagement and education. She described the Sheriff's Office as providing a “full spectrum of public-safety services,” including proactive patrol, criminal investigations, an internationally accredited forensic laboratory, and oversight of the Hennepin County Jail, which she described as the largest pretrial facility in Minnesota.
On operations, Witt said the county’s 911 emergency communications center dispatches for nearly every city in Hennepin County and that telecommunicators handled approximately 172,000 emergency calls from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, 2025. She also reported enforcement results in the same Jan.–Aug. period: 414 illegally possessed firearms seized, nearly 2,000 fentanyl pills seized, and about 12 pounds of fentanyl powder seized.
Sheriff Witt introduced senior members of her command staff who were present to answer questions, and she thanked county administration and budget staff for their collaboration on the proposal. The committee approved minutes from the Oct. 1 budget hearing by voice vote during the meeting and the chair indicated the motion carried. Because of a technical issue that prevented a call-in line from opening for the Oct. 1 presentation, the committee announced it will accept additional call-in public comments during the week of Oct. 6 and reiterated that public comments on the budget are recorded after each hearing.
The hearing continued with the expectation that Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty would present later in the session; no final action on the sheriff's 2026 budget was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.
