Adams County Sheriff’s budget needs attention

Published 12:00 am Sunday, November 7, 2010

Spending approximately $2.5 million of taxpayer funds last year, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office makes up approximately 10 percent of the county’s entire budget.

Yet trying to understand on what items, equipment, personnel and services the money is spent can be a study in frustration. No one seems to know for sure what expenses go in what budget line items.

In pure dollars, the sheriff’s office spending increased by nearly $300,000 between the 2009-2010 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30 and the previous fiscal period.

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However, comparing this year’s spending with previous years gets tricky as the office replaced its computer system in the last fiscal year, throwing a significant wrench in any simple comparison.

But even casting aside any computer related categories — including repair and maintenance — and vehicle purchases which vary from year to year, the office spent nearly $120,000 more this year than it did in 2008-2009.

For their part, the board of supervisors — or at least a few of them — seem content to not question the sheriff’s office spending much. After all, our life and property is in these folks’ hands.

But we think the county should pay more attention — to sheriff’s office spending and other departments, too.

Voters want good service for the investment of their tax dollars, but they also want efficiency, too.

As our research uncovered a few months ago with the county’s cell-phone-gate, voters don’t want to see their dollars being wasted.

The only way to ensure that is to know that everyone involved in the process — particularly supervisors who are reviewing all of the budgets — are engaged and scrutinizing every dollar being spent.

Doing that will ensure we have a safe community and an efficient government.