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Committee approves budget amendments to cover sheriff, EMS year-end overages
Summary
Public Safety Committee approved budget amendments: a sheriff request to use fund balance for $691,811 of overages (jail overtime, retirement, workers' comp, food) and EMS year-end self-balancing reconciliations including an identified $27,000 fly-car surplus.
The Public Safety Committee on Feb. 18 approved budget amendments to reconcile 2025 overages in the sheriff's office and emergency services accounts.
A sheriff's office representative told the committee the office exceeded appropriations and sought to use $661,568 of general fund balance and $30,243 in W-911 reserved fund balance for a total of $691,811 to cover overages. The largest single overage cited was jail overtime (about $266,000); other drivers included retirement charges, a workers' compensation surcharge (about $189,000 referenced), higher food costs tied to an increased average daily inmate population, and vehicle maintenance and dispatch bookkeeping corrections. The representative said vacancy savings partially offset some overages.
Separately, Sam Zafoto, deputy director of finance, and Paul Gutman, director of emergency services, described a self-balancing amendment for EMS accounts that realigns appropriations and revenues for 2025. They noted payroll and fly-car contractual overages but reported an approximate $27,000 surplus in the fly-car revenue line at the time of the briefing.
Both amendments were put to voice vote and carried. The committee discussed staffing constraints driving overtime and the strain of vacancies on operations and recruitment.
