Sheriff Michael Vance returned to the Seward County Commissioners on Aug. 5, asking them to live up to what he saw as a budget agreement made in July, but the commissioners asked him to go back once more to consider options on the number of deputies included in his department budget.
Vance and the commissioners had to shuffle funds within his budget to cover payroll costs for three deputies at the June 30 end of the 2024-25 fiscal year, which Vance attributed to the federal government’s slowness in providing his department reimbursements it is due from the Seward County Drug Interdiction Task Force.
At that time, Vance said he had been told that when the Trump Administration’s budget reconciliation bill passed, the Departments of Justice and Treasury would be able to free up funds to make those payments.
As of Aug. 5, he still had not received those funds, but said he could see on a Department of Treasury website that around $70,000 was designated for distribution. His last distribution was around $17,000.
He has said he is owed $5 million from confiscated funds over several years.
The payroll complication has come from the fact that the department has paid three non-task force deputies’ salaries from the interdiction funds. The program does not allow the funds to be used for interdiction staff payroll.
So as Vance proposed his 2025-26 budget with the salaries aligned in the same way, commissioners questioned whether the department could cover all the costs if that funding does not come in.
“I just want to make sure you can make this work,” said Commissioner Scott Pekarek.
Because the sheriff is an elected official, the commissioners have control only over his tax-revenue budget and the number of deputies he hires, although the deputy count continues to be a point of disagreement between the board and the sheriff.
Vance said his budget plan complies with what he perceived as the commissioners’ commitment to fund his department at the same level it did last fiscal year, noting that there would be additional funds for payroll increases as is being done in all departments.
He said the department has made changes to spend less money, including changing the policy for when employees who live outside Seward County can take a vehicle home, reassigning zones for staff to cover to minimize cross-county driving, having staff do vehicle oil changes, and deferring some maintenance.
Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki said the department had 17 deputies in 2018 but had grown to 22 now, and he questioned whether Seward County needed that many.
Vance said he could use five more and his per capita numbers are below national averages.
He noted the officers paid with the interdiction funds are assigned to be Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officers in three area schools. While the DARE officer conducts 10 weekly 1-hour visits to each participating class, Vance said there is more to working with the schools outside the DARE program.
Vance also said the interdiction task force’s work is needed to battle criminal activity and drug trafficking, saying their work to take drugs off the interstate impacts local communities. He said the sheriff has the authority to determine whether the county participates in the interdiction task force.
Zabrocki said he would alter his description of the interdiction program from unnecessary to secondary.
“You have been very successful, I will give you credit for that,” Zabrocki said. “But I am not sure we can afford it.”
Board Chair Misty Ahmic reminded Vance that the county board was not unanimous in its support for the purchase and development of the building that now houses the interdiction officers and equipment near Milford.
She said it was approved on a 3-2 vote a few years ago – with some different board members –and her vote in favor at that time was only because the group had been told they would receive a scanner capable of imaging vehicles. But that plan changed.
She said the board did say it would fund the department at the same level as last fiscal year, and she does not like seeing people lose jobs.
“I would be clearly lying if I said I was not concerned,” Ahmic said.
The board asked Vance to come back with alternative budget plans that would include a decrease in the number of deputies, though Ahmic said that does not mean that is the path the county would choose.
Vance referenced something from an executive session he had a few weeks ago with the commission, spurring the commission to move into a nine-minute executive session, before continuing their discussion of the lack of federal funding “drops” for the interdiction program.
In the end, Ahmic told Vance the board is concerned about the people in his department, but asked him to bring back budget options that included current staffing levels and a smaller number of staff to consider.
Vance told Ahmic he would do what she asked, but before his staff was cut, “we are going to end up in court.”
Also at the meeting, the commissioners discussed personnel scheduling options to minimize overtime expenditures at the jail for the 2025-26 budget.
The county must finalize its budget and conduct a public hearing on it before Sept. 30, even though the fiscal year began July 1.
