KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners has begun discussing the 2021 budget and how it will look.
During a virtual meeting Tuesday night, Commissioners discussed the matter at length and debated over what they’d like to see in the plan. The $190-million dollar proposed budget has already been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but officials said state funding has not been slashed.
“We did receive some word last night that state-shared revenue was not part of the cuts that are gonna be coming forward with the fiscal year ’21 budget for the State of Michigan, so that was really good news,” Deputy County Administrator Amanda Morse said.
— Body Cameras for Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Deputies —
One topic concern is the deficit in the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, which had been brought up in previous meetings this year. It was caused by the department going half a million dollars over budget, commissioners said.
Because state shared revenue is not being cut, $1,350,000 is expected to remain allocated for jail operations. Questions were raised as to whether or not the allocated funds would be reduced, since the jail has a decreased population. There has not been a reduction in jail staff, however.
Some of that funding could be used for equipment, such as officer body cameras. Officials added that the funding could also used for upgraded equipment, as well.
County Administrator Tracie Moored said that discussions with Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller have been ongoing.
“We’ve asked for a five-year plan from the Sheriff’s office to outline how that would be paid for and what additional staffing needs that they would need,” Moored said. “At this point, we don’t have all the information. We are working through that and have made really good headway, but at this point, there’s still some gaps that need to be filled in.”
Morse added some further details to the subject.
“We’ve been working pretty closely with the Sheriff on the body camera discussion, trying to determine a path forward from a funding perspective,” Morse said. “He’s still adjusting his ideas on how he might be able to fund that project. I have asked, just to make sure that we are transparent in that request, that we detail exactly what that funding plan is, and include that in any discussion before it is presented to the board. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to resolve that quickly.”
Commissioner Julie Rogers suggested reallocating funding for the Sheriff’s office to help pay for the body cameras.
“It’s my belief and feeling that we may need to re-prioritize some of the funding, and to me this is very critical and very important,” Rogers said. “I understand we have to live within our means, and I understand that we might not have extra money for this project, but it would be my desire to see if there’s any kind of way that we can re-prioritize, or at least start down this path with some significant law enforcement dollars committed to this project, moving forward for 2021.”
Moored said that while this is a possibility, the administration is leaning more towards having the Sheriff’s office cover the expenses.
“We are really pushing the Sheriff to cover that within some areas that he is able,” Moored said. “I believe it is important to move that forward, but I also know we have certain areas that we need to prioritize, and we’re trying to stretch as much as we can. I think we will have a greater conversation once certain pieces are answered by the Sheriff’s department, and then we can move that forward later.”
Not all Commissioners were in agreement with the notion of reallocating funds to the Sheriff’s department. Commissioner Stephanie Moore cited concerns over the department’s budget.
“I’m not interested, at this point, in having a conversation about shuffling around and reorganizing until we can get a stabilized budget that’s been put back into order from the Sheriff’s department, particularly under this leadership,” Moore said. “I believe that having body cams, those mics and video camera are extremely important, especially for the community. But I also know that, even working with the City of Kalamazoo, a lot of that equipment they have is grant-funded.”
Moore said the Sheriff’s office needs to do its part in trying to obtain those grant funds.
“I think there is an interest in a priority of making that happen, but there has to be some leg work, some research, follow-up and follow-through in applying for some dollars to help offset some of these costs,” Moore said. “If the Sheriff’s office isn’t able to do that, I’m going to strongly suggest he find someone to help him do that. I think there has to be some step-up, some leadership to help get these dollars into the door. I think it’s a sad commentary for any law enforcement department to not have the adequate tools, technology and resources that they need to protect and to serve, not just the public, but also those local law enforcement officers.”
Overall, in regards to funding this project, Administrator Morse said it’s going to be largely up to Sheriff Fuller. She reiterated that Fuller is currently reviewing ideas on how to do so.
— Potential Raises for Kalamazoo County Employees —
Another topic of discussion centered around raising the pay grade of Kalamazoo County employees to $15 an hour.
“I think that definitely has been a goal, we were hoping to have some discussions this year about that,” Moored said. “Given the situation that we have this year, we were not even able to get that as a topic on the list. We have been talking about raising what our minimum paid job is at Kalamazoo County Government – $15 an hour, at the time, was the discussion we all thought was the amount we need to move towards eventually. That’s just over a million dollars.”
The million dollars could raise the pay of around 80 county employees, officials said. However, questions were raised as to what other funds would have to be cut to make that a reality.
“I’m very willing and open to entertain this,” Rogers said. “I’m not sure what more we can sustain in this current budget, so either its a significant offset and we need to cut some things out of this current budget, or if we have the luxury of having bigger revenues next year than what we’re anticipating.”
Other factors that may hinder this include renegotiation with unions, among others, and whether or not the employees at the top would be receiving a raise as well.
“It’s pretty important that there be a process in place,” Commissioner Michael Seals said. “I would love nothing more than to give them the $15 right now, but I know that we have to check with unions, we have to be able to negotiate. I don’t think that we can memorialize this without having legal interaction as to what we can do, what our limitations are, and how to proceed. I do think that, with COVID and all the things going on, we really need to be careful in that we should really do a lot of homework on this one before we pass it.”
— Recreational Marijuana Revenue —
In addition, Morse informed board members that they have not seen a dime in revenue from recreational marijuana. It’s all slated to stay in Lansing until they are reimbursed for regulating the new industry.
“Those will be dollars they we may not see for another couple of years until they start to roll into the counties,” Morse said.
— Top Budget Priorities —
Overall, their priorities for next year are to begin work on the new Kalamazoo County Courthouse, address homelessness and increase affordable housing, fund the Kalamazoo County Consolidated Dispatch Authority, and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The board plans to hold a public hearing and take a vote on the budget proposal at their next meeting on October 8th.
Details on the proposed budget can be found here.
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