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Budget cuts hit Sheriff's Department

By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
The proposed elimination of state aids means the Portage County Sheriff's Department will have to cut $764,000 from its budget and many services to the public.

"The Sheriff's Department is not going to be doing business like it has been for the past 10, 15, 20, 25 years," Sheriff Stan Potocki told the county Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee when it met Wednesday, Feb. 13. "We will do the best with what we have."

Programs the department has provided to the community for 25-30 years, like hunter safety, boating safety, snowmobile safety and all-terrain vehicle safety classes, will be eliminated, Potocki said. Deputies will also no longer conduct snowmobile or boat patrols.

Instead of having six squad cars patrolling the county, the department will only have four cars on the road at any one time, Potocki said. Those four remaining cars will focus their attention on the more populous areas of the county. Response to calls will also be prioritized, so if someone is involved in a car-deer accident, that driver will probably have to come to the Law Enforcement Center to report it, instead of having a deputy drive to the scene.

The County Board is scheduled to vote on a replacement hiring freeze when it meets next Tuesday. The hiring freeze resolution only exempts hiring replacements for jailers, Portage House workers and care-givers at the Health Care Facility. Two Sheriff's Department officers, Chief Deputy Richard Kostuchowski and Capt. James LaMar, head of the Operations Division, will retire this spring. Potocki has proposed promoting two lieutenants at the department to fill those positions.

Unable to refill the two deputy positions that would be vacated as a result of the promotions, the Sheriff's Department will take two COP (Community Oriented Policing) Grant deputies out of the outlying villages and put them into the road patrol rotation.

"This is going to cut down on our response time to those communities," Potocki said.

Other county departments are also seeing what programs and services they can cut in response to Gov. Scott McCallum's proposed elimination of state shared revenues to local governments. Getting rid of shared revenues would help the budget offset its $1.1 billion budget shortfall, the governor said.

Not all of the proposed cuts may be needed, because both Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature have expressed opposition to McCallum's budget plan, said County Board Chairman Clarence Hintz.
"We don't anticipate it's going to be this bad," Hintz said. "We know there's going to be something, but we just don't know how much."

The county is near its state-mandated property tax cap and won't be able to make up for funding shortfalls by increasing the property tax rate, Hintz said.

Potocki and other county officials want the public to know that they are reluctant to cut services, but are left with no choice if shared revenues are eliminated.

"When we start cutting back on response time, we may have some people who will die because of it," Potocki said.

In other business before the Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee, members voted to send a request to the county's Position Review Committee to refill the soon-to-be vacant chief deputy and operations captain positions by promotion. The committee also asked Personnel Director Therese Freiberg, Corporation Counsel Michael McKenna and Potocki to review the sheriff's authority to appoint.

The County Board is slated to vote on creating the Personnel Review Committee when it meets next week. The three-member committee would consist of the County Board chairman and chairmen of the Personnel and Finance committees. The committee would have the authority to take final action regarding the request of any county department to be granted an exemption to the hiring freeze. If the resolution creating the Personnel Review Committee fails to pass, the Sheriff's Department request to refill senior management positions would go to the Personnel Department.

Potocki said he wants to appoint Lt. John Graettinger as chief deputy and Lt. John Keener as Operations Division captain.

The Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee also voted to streamline the procedure for filling jailer vacancies by going to "continuous recruitment" process. To hire a new jailer now takes six weeks before the department can get the approval of the Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee and the Personnel Committee, said Capt. Evan Hansen, head of the Corrections Division.

Under the continuous recruitment process, the Sheriff's Department could work off existing hiring merit lists and hire with oversight by the Personnel Department.

The jail is "full to the brim right now," Potocki said. One jailer has retired and the jail may lose another one.



	Budget cuts hit Sheriff's Department By BRIAN LEAHY of The Gazette The proposed elimination of state aids means the Portage County Sheriff's Department will have to cut $764,000 from its budget and many services to the public. "The Sheriff's Department is not going to be doing business like it has been for the past 10, 15, 20, 25 years," Sheriff Stan Potocki told the county Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee when it met Wednesday, Feb. 13. "We will do the best with what we have." Programs the department has provided to the community for 25-30 years, like hunter safety, boating safety, snowmobile safety and all-terrain vehicle safety classes, will be eliminated, Potocki said. Deputies will also no longer conduct snowmobile or boat patrols. Instead of having six squad cars patrolling the county, the department will only have four cars on the road at any one time, Potocki said. Those four remaining cars will focus their attention on the more populous areas of the county. Response to calls will also be prioritized, so if someone is involved in a car-deer accident, that driver will probably have to come to the Law Enforcement Center to report it, instead of having a deputy drive to the scene. The County Board is scheduled to vote on a replacement hiring freeze when it meets next Tuesday. The hiring freeze resolution only exempts hiring replacements for jailers, Portage House workers and care-givers at the Health Care Facility. Two Sheriff's Department officers, Chief Deputy Richard Kostuchowski and Capt. James LaMar, head of the Operations Division, will retire this spring. Potocki has proposed promoting two lieutenants at the department to fill those positions. Unable to refill the two deputy positions that would be vacated as a result of the promotions, the Sheriff's Department will take two COP (Community Oriented Policing) Grant deputies out of the outlying villages and put them into the road patrol rotation. "This is going to cut down on our response time to those communities," Potocki said. Other county departments are also seeing what programs and services they can cut in response to Gov. Scott McCallum's proposed elimination of state shared revenues to local governments. Getting rid of shared revenues would help the budget offset its $1.1 billion budget shortfall, the governor said. Not all of the proposed cuts may be needed, because both Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature have expressed opposition to McCallum's budget plan, said County Board Chairman Clarence Hintz. "We don't anticipate it's going to be this bad," Hintz said. "We know there's going to be something, but we just don't know how much." The county is near its state-mandated property tax cap and won't be able to make up for funding shortfalls by increasing the property tax rate, Hintz said. Potocki and other county officials want the public to know that they are reluctant to cut services, but are left with no choice if shared revenues are eliminated. "When we start cutting back on response time, we may have some people who will die because of it," Potocki said. In other business before the Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee, members voted to send a request to the county's Position Review Committee to refill the soon-to-be vacant chief deputy and operations captain positions by promotion. The committee also asked Personnel Director Therese Freiberg, Corporation Counsel Michael McKenna and Potocki to review the sheriff's authority to appoint. The County Board is slated to vote on creating the Personnel Review Committee when it meets next week. The three-member committee would consist of the County Board chairman and chairmen of the Personnel and Finance committees. The committee would have the authority to take final action regarding the request of any county department to be granted an exemption to the hiring freeze. If the resolution creating the Personnel Review Committee fails to pass, the Sheriff's Department request to refill senior management positions would go to the Personnel Department. Potocki said he wants to appoint Lt. John Graettinger as chief deputy and Lt. John Keener as Operations Division captain. The Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee also voted to streamline the procedure for filling jailer vacancies by going to "continuous recruitment" process. To hire a new jailer now takes six weeks before the department can get the approval of the Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee and the Personnel Committee, said Capt. Evan Hansen, head of the Corrections Division. Under the continuous recruitment process, the Sheriff's Department could work off existing hiring merit lists and hire with oversight by the Personnel Department. The jail is "full to the brim right now," Potocki said. One jailer has retired and the jail may lose another one.