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Sheriff urges five-year contract schedule as town'level policing demand rises
Summary
The Swisher-area sheriff presented annual service metrics and urged the council to adopt a five-year contract schedule and consider incrementally increasing contracted hours and rates to close a funding gap the office says now leaves towns covering roughly 85% of officer costs.
The Swisher City Council heard an annual presentation from the county sheriff on Sept. 23 in which the sheriff described how the office measures public-safety activity and urged the council to adopt a five-year contract schedule to help towns plan budgets.
The sheriff distinguished calls for service (CFS) from incident report (ICR) counts, saying ICRs better reflect criminal activity because an ICR is generated only when a report or charge is filed. He noted ICRs were down modestly from the previous year (‘‘the total number of ICRs are down by six; the total number of criminal charges are down by five’’) but cautioned that single addresses or events can skew annual figures.
The sheriff recommended moving to a five-year contract that would phase hourly increases aimed at closing the town'county funding gap. "Historically the towns have covered about 85% of salary and benefits," he said, adding that a proposed $4-per-hour step would only move towns about 1 percentage point closer to full cost coverage in the near term because of negotiated union increases.
Council members asked whether increasing contracted hours could reduce the use of reserve officers on busy nights. The sheriff responded that assigning deputies exclusively to town shifts could create overtime and coverage problems countywide because deputies also cover a larger patrol area; he gave a sample cost for a seven-year deputy of about $61 per hour.
The sheriff asked the council to place the contract on the next agenda in resolution form for tracking; the council agreed to add the resolution to the next meeting so towns can vote and then the county board will consider the full schedule.
The council did not adopt a final contract at the meeting; staff said a formal resolution will appear on the next agenda for a recorded vote.
