Butler County sheriff plans 20 job cuts

HAMILTON — Drug and crime prevention programs and school resource officers could be the first to go as the Butler County Sheriff's Office works to balance its 2009 budget.

If that isn't enough — and it probably won't be — the sheriff will have to consider cutting patrol officers, according to Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer.

In a new budget sent to county commissioners Tuesday, Jan. 13, Sheriff Richard K. Jones announced a hiring freeze in 2009 and said he is eliminating 20 positions as the county struggles to craft a budget amid economic turmoil.

Roughly one-third of those positions were cut through attrition, but the rest will be layoffs if the department can't get funding from elsewhere, Dwyer said. The pink slips would go out in the next two weeks, he said.

"These are very tough times," Dwyer said. "We have to cut everybody back to the minimum and we have to roll staff back to the key positions."

These and other cuts

will save the county $1.5 million, Jones said in a letter to commissioners.

In the letter, the sheriff said he also was able to decrease prisoner boarding costs by roughly $1 million by giving low-level offenders citations and notices to appear instead of incarceration. He is expecting an increase in the money made from housing prisoners from outside the county, bringing that revenue to nearly $6.8 million.

"Although such reductions and changes make our mission difficult we will continue to work diligently to provide quality services and protection to the citizen(s) of Butler County," Jones wrote.

The sheriff's total proposed budget of $33.6 million is a decrease from the draft budget submitted in November, but not the 10 percent decrease commissioners asked for. Dwyer said the increased revenue from prisoner boarding makes up the difference.

County leaders said Tuesday they have not had a chance to review the sheriff's proposal.


Source: journal-news.com