Members of the Cole County Commission spent much of their time considering the proposed budget for the Cole County Sheriff's Department on Wednesday, the second day this week of discussions regarding the county's 2020 budget.
The proposed budget from Auditor Kristen Berhorst would add four new deputies to the Sheriff's Department. Two would be road deputies, and two would be transport deputies in the jail. Their starting salaries would be $37,000.
Sheriff John Wheeler said patrol deputies are facing new challenges with reports.
"This is because of new laws, new cases, new technology and an increase in complex crimes," Wheeler said. "A case we investigated five years ago versus a case we would investigate this year is very different. We have to be more articulate with the reports, and it is definitely taking more time, as well as looking at evidence from bodycams and dashcams."
The department currently has 20 road deputies with calls for service volume of approximately 27,000 calls a year, Wheeler said.
"With the increase in time to complete reports and increase in call volume, my patrol division supervisors have had to become primary call takers, meaning they are having to spend more time responding to calls instead of being able to supervise," the sheriff said.
The department has not added road deputy positions since 2011, he added.
Wheeler said he wanted four new road deputies because it would give each of their road squads an extra position.
"Unfortunately, I only have funds for the two new road deputies," he added.
As for the jail transport deputies, Wheeler said the department had asked for those positions last year due to an increase in transports, but they weren't able to get those positions.
In 2017, the Sheriff's Department had 1,006 transports, and in 2018, they jumped to 1,307, Wheeler said.
"That's a 23 percent increase," he said. "As of October, we are at 1,194 transports and projecting we'll end the year doing 1,426."
While the department is authorized to have 114 positions, Wheeler said, they still are down 17 positions - both part time and full time in the jail.
The commission will spend a third and final day talking budgets today with department heads and elected officials. Commissioners will have a budget discussion among themselves next week. They plan to approve the budget by Jan. 7