Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison.
At a time when citizens want improved public safety, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office has been asked to cut expenses by 5% in the coming year.
It's an effort by the county commissioners to create a balanced 2025 budget at a time when preliminary data shows that proposed expenses in the coming year will outpace expected tax revenues.
"From our initial proposal that we submitted, we've already cut a million," Sheriff Mike Morrison said. "The biggest challenge that they've requested is to try and get back to a level that we had to start 2024. That's impossible."
The sheriff says we have contractual obligations for employee pay increases next year and patrol vehicle expenses have increased more than 20%.
"There's no way we'd get back down to 2024 figures even if we did it without laying people off and I certainly hope that's not the case," Morrison added. "We may have to start looking at calls that may not be the highest priority, and we're certainly looking into different options; online reporting, we're looking at technology to assist us. We are trying to come up with other means that can do some of the work that a deputy is doing right now, but again you can't replace boots on the ground."
"The heart and sole of this agency is our deputies and they're the ones providing the level of service that are communities come to expect," said Morrison.
Sheriff Morrison confided that he knows the commissioners are dedicated to serving Chelan County communities just as Sheriff’s deputies are, adding, "I hope we can work together to get the job done. We're committed to protecting our citizens."
Commentaires