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 The Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passes through downtown Wapakoneta Wednesday, September 1. Staff photo/William Laney By CARLA MEYER
Staff Writer
For 45 minutes, the roar of motorcycles could be heard passing under an American flag hanging from two ladder trucks. For 45 minutes, area residents gathered in the shadow of the Auglaize County Courthouse and Wapakoneta Fire Station waved and clapped as motorcyclists rode by.
The smiles and waves turned into clapping and cheers as the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passed down Willipie Street on its way to Custenborder Field in Sidney where it was greeted by a field of American flags.
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Sheriff seeks less: Solomon applies for grant to help reduce budget |
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Wednesday, 28 October 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
Working with funding from other sources, the Auglaize County sheriff was able to present a 2010 budget Tuesday to the county commissioners that is less than this year’s.
“It’s a huge challenge,” Sheriff Al Solomon said of efforts being made to keep the budget where it is this year without any additional requests for funding. “We do not know what the jail population will be, how many transports we will have or to where, or what the weather will be. We can’t predict what major investigations we will be a part of and what associated overtime costs may be.
“For us, it’s the unknown of what kind of costs we may have next year,” he said. “Cruisers are a concern, increased gas prices are still an issue.”
But Solomon said with every county around laying off or cutting budgets by 5 to 10 percent, he was not going to come and ask for raises or any other increases.
“The main thing for me is keeping all my current employees employed,” Solomon said referring to something commissioners told him last year. “They’ve always done the best they can to work with us. That’s never been an issue.
“Now in a tough economy, I’m doing the best I can to work with them,” he said.
In total, the sheriff’s proposed budget for 2010 is $4.2 million, a decrease of 1 percent from this year’s $4.3 million budget.
The only line items with changes are salary at $2.8 million and benefits, which all decreased by 2 percent.
Solomon said he planned to use profits from the Handgun License Fund to cover $12,000 in salary costs, which otherwise would have increased the General Fund with more than 65 percent of his employees receiving automatic pay increases through union contracts.
Solomon expressed some concern about giving those employees raises per their contracts while his other 28 non-unionized employees most likely will have to do without as the county has not decided whether there will be cost-of-living pay increases made. Most likely they will stay frozen at 2008 rates as they did this year.
The sheriff’s salary, set by the state, is to remain the same at more than $59,500.
Other line items include $273,000 for services, $195,000 for jail supplies, $95,000 for law enforcement center supplies and $85,000 for jail services.
Equipment costs at $85,000 again this year include no new cruisers.
Solomon said they would prefer to replace the cruisers every two years, but he has not done so since 2008. The Sheriff’s Office won a cruiser in 2009.
Chief Deputy Mike Eberle said four of the county’s seven cruisers have more than 100,000 miles and he was concerned that by continuing to wait that when new cruisers would need to be purchased they may need to purchase four.
He noted mileage on the cruisers seems to be increasing as the department performs further out-of-state transports as well as more transports to juvenile facilities.
“They’re holding up really well, but we can’t keep the miles off,” Eberle said. “We’re doing OK. They still look brand new but they are getting the miles on them, and not 100,000 civilian miles, but 100,000 deputy miles.”
Commissioner John Bergman suggested midway through 2010, they re-examine the Sheriff Office’s need for cruisers, especially as the preferred vehicle, the Ford Crown Victoria, may be in its last year of manufacture.
“Even in good times I dread purchasing four vehicles,” Bergman said. “I don’t want to cause a bigger jam by putting it off.”
Solomon agreed saying they did not want to be back telling commissioners they need four new cruisers now, but they are attempting to keep requests to a minimum during tough financial times.
“Financially, our figure is healthy because we are not purchasing equipment or cruisers,” Solomon said. “We are concerned with what we need not what we want.”
He said his employees make that possible as they continue to work to cut any place and every place they can, working in consortium to find the lowest prices on everything from toilet paper to gloves.
“I know we have the biggest budget in the county, but I wouldn’t want to think that everyone wasn’t trying to cut however they could,” Solomon said. “I challenge them to do that. It’s what we have to do. It’s what’s right for the county.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 29 October 2009 )
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