Sheriff savings facts

Oct 18 -- We include this because supporters of the old police regime continue to insist we're lying about the savings. Hopefully this will provide some clarification.

According to the Saint Paris village fiscal officer:

$490,075 was appropriated for law enforcement in 2024.

$229,385 was appropriated for law enforcement in 2025.

That's a budget savings of $260,690. More than a quarter million dollars! About 25 percent of the village budget.

However, last year only $314,349 was actually spent, prirmarily because of officer slots that went unfilled.

So if we assume that 90 percent of this year's appropriation will be disbursed (as of Oct 1 only 60 percent has been), we can say, indisputably, we're spending $100,000 less this year. And we can confidently predict that future law-enforcement expenditures will be less than 30 percent of the village budget, instead of nearly 50 percent.

To put it in perspective, the street levy passed this year will raise about $120,000 for each of the next five years. By contracting with the sheriff for law enforcement, we've effectively doubled the amount of money available for infrastructure improvements!

And to dig a bit deeper: if the extra money is used for state and federal grants that require a 25 percent local match, that means we'll be expending about $500,000 a year more on streets, curbs, sidewalks, sewers and water lines. $2.5 million over the next five years!

How's that for financial management!