MANSFIELD — It is unlikely the Richland County Sheriff’s Office will have all its budget requests granted for 2026.
When RCSO officials met with the Richland County Board of Commissioners for a budget hearing earlier this month, they proposed a $22.3 million budget for next year — up $1.2 million over what was proposed in 2025.
On Tuesday, the three-member board — minus absent Commissioner Cliff Mears — began the first of several work sessions it will conduct before the end of the year in order to establish a balanced general fund budget.
The board previously adopted a policy that requires them to balance the budget each year, i.e. not appropriating more than they and other county officials expect to generate in revenue.
The moves made by commissioners Tuesday are essentially working with a working draft of the final budget. No decisions are made firm until the board votes on a final budget.
Richland County Auditor Pat Dropsey and Andrew Keller, the county’s administrator, also participated in the work session.
Last week, Commissioner Tony Vero said department requests total about $52 million — which will need to be trimmed by about 8.1 percent (or around $3.9 million), he said Tuesday morning.
RCSO’s requests account for about 42 percent of the total requests from county departments for 2026 — making it a likely place for commissioners to look for reductions.
When presenting to commissioners earlier in November, RCSO requested about $8.8 million for its law enforcement fund, approximately $12 million for the county jail and about $2.1 million for the 9-1-1 dispatch center.
During the Nov. 4 budget hearing, Vero said it may be unrealistic to ask taxpayers to come up with about $1.3 million in capital requests included in the 2026 RCSO budget. He and fellow Commissioner Darrell Banks made that clear again Tuesday.
Vero and Banks agreed to move several requests out of the county’s general fund and into its capital fund, including: about $550,000 for a major project updating the county jail’s kitchen, $160,000 to replace a body scanner, $25,000 for a key control system and $40,000 to replace four exterior security doors.
A request for six new cruisers, which would cost about $426,000, has also been moved for consideration to the county’s capital fund.
“Moving it to capital doesn’t mean we’re going to approve it. I think we’ve been pretty clear that the sheriff’s office isn’t going to get all the cruisers,” Vero said. “Asking for $1.2 million in capital in one year is a lot for one office — granted they’re 42 percent of the budget.
“When we’re through with the general fund, we’ll go back and discuss the capital requests as to what we would approve,” he said.
Both commissioners agreed that as things stands, it is unlikely the board will approve all of RCSO’s capital requests. Vero and Banks said they may consider two or three new cruisers, but six is likely a stretch.
Vero said the kitchen project at the jail is a must-do, which RCSO Maj. Jim Sweat also said earlier in November.
PREVIOUS REPORTING ON 2026 RCSO budget
Common pleas and juvenile courts budgets
Commissioners made other adjustments to line items from RCSO’s three budgets, including decreases in salary requests in the county jail and law enforcement budgets and slight drops in the law enforcement gasoline and county jail legal fees line items.
Reductions in requests from county department’s are not cuts to their budget, Vero said, explaining reductions are simply a decrease in the amount requested. A department’s overall budget can still increase year-over-year, even with possible reductions made to its request.
The board also reviewed budgets for the county’s common pleas and juvenile courts on Tuesday. Commissioners agreed to move just under $300,000 — related to new servers —from the common pleas court IT department budget to the county’s capital fund.
Vero said the court has more than $400,000 in a special projects fund.
“I’m not inclined to approve that (request for new servers) without a discussion about some other special projects fund,” Vero said. “I don’t think it’s fair to the detriment of the rest of the general fund and even capital monies to say, ‘Hey, we haven’t had a plan in place and all of the sudden we need $300,000.'”
As far as the juvenile court budget, the Board agreed to move $20,000 for an air handler at the juvenile detention center from the repairs line item to capital, along with $62,000 out of equipment.
But with the juvenile court’s revenue currently down 12 percent, Vero said he is unsure if the county can consume costs for additional employees — a figure which has steadily increased since 2020.
“They said they added some teaching positions (at the juvenile detention center). The average daily population is up because they are seeing an increase in gun specifications,” Vero said. “Their Title I funds for tutors are drying up and they are asking that the detention budget bear those costs.”
There are currently 31 full-time and 4 part-time employees at the detention center, Vero said. Vero and Banks agreed to reduce the detention center salary request from $1.55 million to $1.45 million.
“We have got to reduce some requests somewhere and they are one of our biggest budgets,” Vero said.
After reviewing and adjusting three of the largest budgets from county departments, the Board still shows it needs to trim about $1.86 million to reach a balanced budget. Work sessions will resume Thursday.
