Carroll City council hears police budget that includes a proposed school resource officer

Carroll City heard a detailed presentation from the police department on the department's proposed fiscal 2026 budget and the draft agreement to place a school resource officer (SRO) in the Carroll Community School District.

Police presenter Brad told the council the department updated its Motorola in-car and body camera systems last year and has taken delivery of new patrol cars. The proposed budget adds a replacement officer to fill the SRO post, increasing Personnel Services to nearly the level shown in the draft. Brad said the currently proposed SRO 28E would allocate roughly 70% of salary and benefits to the school and 30% to the city; he told the council the school had the draft agreement for review but had not yet returned comments.

Why this matters: the SRO would change the police staffing pattern and is the single largest driver of the police general fund increase in the presentation. Brad said the replacement officer would be a patrol-level city officer with at least one year of departmental experience and that out-of-session coverage (summer and school breaks) would be covered by patrol shift assignments.

Budget details and equipment requests led the discussion. Brad said the department plans one patrol car replacement and raised the office equipment replacement line by $1,000 to account for rising computer costs. He told council members the department is estimating about $220,000 before trade-ins to replace aging patrol rifles and optics; he said trade-in value from the vendor may reduce that cost. He also explained reductions to services-and-commodities lines where spending history allowed modest cuts, and he described selling surplus vehicles on the GovDeals auction platform to recover funds.

Council members pressed for operational details: whether the SRO time split is measured across the year or only during school days (Brad said the 70/30 split is for the entire budget year, with 70% of time effectively in school-related duties), who would pay training costs (Brad said the draft originally included equipment and training costs but the school asked to remove those items; the city would carry some training costs), and whether the officer would need academy training or already be a certified patrol officer (Brad said he prefers an officer with department experience rather than sending a brand-new academy hire).

Brad also identified line items funded from special accounts: a small amount (about $2,800) in the police-forfeiture account would pay for ballistic plates; body and in-car camera systems were funded and deployed in recent years, and the department plans to continue using those funds when appropriate. On training and ammunition budgets, Brad said a late delivery of ammunition left the department with stock on hand, enabling him to reduce the budgeted ammo line and retain a $6,000 safety buffer.

What happens next: the budget conversation will continue at upcoming meetings; staff will return when the school responds to the draft 28E and when the council moves forward with public hearings and formal levies.