MANSFIELD — The Richland County Sheriff’s Office has proposed a $21.1 million budget for 2025, an increase of 12.1 percent over what was appropriated in 2024.
Sheriff Steve Sheldon and his administrators met with the Richland County Board of Commissioners on Thursday to go over the proposed spending plan, which includes law enforcement, the county jail and the 9-1-1 dispatch center.
It was one of a series of ongoing 2025 general fund budget discussions commissioners are having with elected officials and department heads with the goal of a finalized budget appropriation in December.
Each department submits a proposed budget to commissioners, who are the budgetary authority for the county.
It’s not unusual for the three-member panel to trim millions off of total initial budget requests by the time the finalized spending plan is compete in December.
The three-member panel also met Thursday with leaders from human resources and risk management and officials with Common Pleas Court, Adult Court Services and the Community Alternative Center.
(Below is a PDF of a letter from Richland County Sheriff Steve Sheldon to the Richland County Board of Commissioners related to his 2025 budget request.)
In the sheriff’s proposed budget, the largest percentage increases sought are in the jail and the and in the dispatch center.
The budget request includes a new position for an investigator in the jail, as well as a part-time contracted medical clerk that will help free up nursing staff to work with jail prisoners.
Capt. Chris Blunk, administrator in the 234-bed jail, attributed the rising costs to increases in food services, medical services and jail staffing.
The county has signed contracts this year with new providers that had increased costs for food and medical care.
Blunk told commissioners the investigator position in the jail was needed due to increased need in terms of complaints, inmate grievances, medical issues/deaths and use-of-force probes.
“Just in the jail alone, we usually have about 150 complaints a year,” he said, adding investigations of those could range from one hour to “many, many hours.”
“We handle 450 inmate grievances per year. Again, maybe 20 minutes to several hours on those. Missing property claims,” Blunk said.
The captain also said there “valuable information” in listening to inmate phone calls that could help make the jail a safer place.
“I don’t really have anybody that’s designated to just listen to phone calls when we have an incident …. when we have a fight … when maybe there’s a weapon in jail … or maybe a rumor of it,” he said.
“A lot of those times, they’re talking about it over the phone, but we don’t have anyone I can just say, ‘Work on this. Let me know what’s going on with this guy or in his housing unit,'” Blunk said.
The budget requests also calls for the purchase of six new cruisers for the sheriff’s department, including one unmarked unit.
Commissioners, who have adopted a policy that the annual spending plan will not exceed projected revenue, didn’t request specific reductions in the sheriff’s department spending plan.
A year ago, commissioners approved a 2024 general fund expense plan of $44.6 million, an increase of about $3 million over 2023 — roughly 6 percent.