Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield is seeking help for a problem he’s causing for himself.

The high sheriff has asked for more funding from taxpayers to provide raises for his staff and also to add additional deputies to patrol.

Increasing deputy presence would be welcome — if needed and if the county could afford it. We’re not convinced either the need or the money exists.

The sheriff claims the reason additional deputies are needed is because the sheriff’s office is handling more calls from within the bounds of the City of Natchez.

While technically the sheriff has jurisdiction over the entire county, within the city limits, we’re unaware of any legal obligations he has to respond to calls within the city.

The Natchez Police Department is more than capable of handling police matters within the city and should be the first responders to Natchez city calls.

Instead the sheriff has taken the political position that he’s trying to respond to county voters — all Natchez city voters also vote for county sheriffs. But that’s his decision.

We’d urge him to take a look at the overhead in his office and seek to reduce administrative functions that don’t help actually fight crime before coming to the taxpayers for a hand out.

Adams County’s population has shrunk significantly over the past several years, but the size of the sheriff’s office has grown. In 2009, the office spent $2.1 million. This year, the sheriff is asking for approximately $2.8 million — a 33-percent increase in just six years.

That’s a heck of an increase in a short period of time.

We urge the county supervisors to simply lock in the sheriff’s budget at or just below last year’s actual spending level and wait until the economy improves before expanding government further.