A discussion about two proposed budget items from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office grew tense at times during Thursday’s county commission meeting, with some commissioners expressing dismay at remarks Sheriff Calvin Hayden made at a recent conservative conference.
Commissioners ultimately voted to table until next week a request to use $4.99 million in general fund reserves to expand and upgrade equipment such as body cameras and Tasers.
Later in the meeting, Hayden and his office’s budget director Brian Seidler presented a separate item, updating the commission that the sheriff’s office would likely need to spend all $2.5 million it is allowed for contingencies from general fund reserves because of higher than expected expenses this year.
Strains between commission, sheriff showed in back and forth
The budget items ostensibly had nothing to do with Hayden’s remarks made last month at the “Determined Patriotism” Conference in Kansas City, Kansas, in which he called Commission Chairman Mike Kelly “comrade Kelly” and Commissioner Janeé Hanzlick a “communist,” among other things.
“Our county commissioners don’t like me and I don’t like them,” he told the largely right-wing audience at the event, which also featured MyPillow executive Mike Lindell and former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
On Thursday, Commissioner Jeff Meyers asked for an explanation of those comments during Hayden’s appearance before the board.
“I really feel troubled that (the comments) were totally unprofessional and I’d like to hear a response,” Meyers said, later adding, “You say you want to be professional, I’m asking you to please be professional.”
Hayden answered that he was at Thursday’s meeting to discuss budgets and did not want to get into a political discussion.
He went on to praise past budget discussions that allowed raises for officers and facilitated the hiring of 81 new officers, but he then commented that his budget discussions with the board go on much longer than do those for other county operations.
“I’m taking care of the best dang sheriff’s department in the state of Kansas, maybe in the country,” he said. “All I want to do is to be treated equally.”
He blamed the long discussions on one or two commissioners “that want to sit here and nit pick things that they have no idea about. It’s not just me. My staff’s sick and tired of standing here for hours answering questions about nothing. It’s not right.”
At that point, Kelly interjected, “I appreciate that you consider $4 million set in the budget cycle nothing.”
Sheriff’s office requested nearly $5M for new tasers, body cams
Hayden’s first budget ask was to renegotiate a contract with Axon Enterprises, Inc., in order to buy more body cameras, Tasers, interview rooms cameras, fleet cameras and unlimited video storage.
The county already has a contract with Axon for Tasers and body cams that runs out in 2025, but the office will need to have more equipment sooner than that because of the influx of new hires.
The current Tasers the Sheriff’s Office has are out of warranty and not supported because of problems with in-car routers, among other things, according to the request presented to the commission.
The new contract would be for just under $5 million over five years, with $3.35 million paid the first year.
Seidler said the new contract would help the county avoid paying for the price increases if it waited for the contract to expire. Increases of 11% will be in effect next year, with another 5% to 7% expected in 2025, Seidler said. Paying most of it up front also was intended to save money, he said.
The sheriff’s office needs more body cameras so deputies wouldn’t need to travel to their storage location each time they needed one, Hayden said.
Sheriff officials want to increase the current number of tasers by 37 to 283 and upgrade to the newest model.
Some commissioners expressed concerns about the request
Commissioners questioned the timing of the request, characterizing it as last-minute, and they questioned whether sheriff’s analysts couldn’t have seen it coming in time to be requested as part the regular annual budgeting process, when it could be balanced with other departmental budget requests.
Still, most commissioners on Thursday acknowledged the need for new equipment.
Kelly asked sheriff’s officials in the future to get an earlier bead on this type of request.
“Try to in the future avoid last-minute mandates especially when it comes to public safety, which is incredibly important to all of us,” he said.
Meyers said the unexpected request for reserve money is “a perfect example of – when people say why don’t you lower that mill levy a much greater amount – it’s because situations like these can arise.”
He said the nearly $5 million request would equate to about a quarter of a mill.
“I think we’ve been pretty good stewards of tax dollars by not jumping onto every shiny thing that comes out,” Hayden said.
The commission unanimously tabled the request for one week in order to research whether anti-racketeering money could be used.
Sheriff’s office also likely to spend all contingency money
No board action was taken on a second budget item, which was an update of the sheriff’s office’s contingency funds.
Hayden reported that unforeseen expenses this year would cause his office to use all of its $2.5 million contingency allotment.
That was partly due to the addition of 81 new sworn officers this year, he said. They are paid but not able to be assigned work during their training period. The result is a large amount of overtime payments to other officers to fill in the gap.
The cost of medications and medical claims for jail inmates also was higher than planned. In 2022, the cost was capped at $856,000 but came in at $1.2 million and the difference was carried into 2023.
Hayden also cited shortfalls in fuel and vehicle repair budget, software, transportation contracts and uniforms.
As the discussion ended, Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara praised Hayden’s office for finding savings on equipment.
“Am I disappointed that we are going to have to spend the contingency funds of $2.5 million? Yes, I am,” she said. But she noted that the contingency was already in the budget and is not a new request.
She also referred back to the discussion about Hayden’s political remarks, which had occurred earlier in Thursday’s meeting.
“In my opinion, he is not respected by some of the members of this board and I apologize for that,” she said.
To which Chairman Kelly responded, “Respect and courtesy is a two-way street.”
Roxie Hammill is a freelance journalist who reports frequently for the Post and other Kansas City area publications. You can reach her at [email protected].
