Sheriff: If budget is cut more, legal responsibilities will go next

The sheriff said budget cuts might reduce the number of deputies or dispatchers.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County Sheriff David Smith says that any more cuts in his budget would prevent his department from performing its legal duties.
Those duties include booking prisoners, delivering prisoners to court and serving legal papers.
"I can't see us going any lower in manpower or any other area," Smith said Wednesday. "We've sustained a number of [economic] hits over the years."
Smith's comments came during a hearing with the county commissioners on the 2007 county budget.
The commissioners are having hearings with officeholders to determine funding levels. The third consecutive defeat of a 0.5-percent sales tax left the commissioners about 4 million short of the needed 18 million for operations next year. The commissioners have said that about 70 percent of the county's budget goes to offices connected to the justice system.
The commissioners have scheduled hearings next month to get public comments on the 0.5-percent sales tax. Sean Logan, commissioners chairman, said that even if voters approved the tax in May, the county would not receive revenue until late in 2007. Voters could also block collection of the tax if the commissioners enact it.
Smith said his office is the only one in the county with laid-off employees never recalled from a county financial crunch several years ago. The department has five people on layoffs and 14 on duty.
What's been done
Because of the lack of manpower, one of the department's detectives has been transferred back to the road patrol, the sheriff said.
"We need deputies out on the road," Smith said.
If forced to make more cutbacks, the sheriff said he would have to make a choice of whether to lay off deputies or lay off dispatchers.
The department has cut back on spending while being innovative, the sheriff said. The department bought a used armored truck for 1 and spent about 2,000 to make repairs.
Smith told the commissioners that Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties share access to an armored vehicle. But Smith aid that if the vehicle was needed, "it would be an hour before it was ready to come down here. We want a vehicle in Columbiana County that can respond in minutes."
Smith is seeking a 2.8 million budget, about 144,000 less than last year.
The sheriff told the commissioners, "We need to know what direction you guys are going."
Logan said, "Things are going to be worse next year."