A first discussion of next year’s budget for the Johnson County Sheriff’s office got off to a combative start Thursday afternoon, with Sheriff Calvin Hayden saying he wouldn’t tolerate questioning of his operations, commissioners insisting they need to ask questions to do their budget oversight, and a small showing of Hayden supporters speaking out of turn often enough to be admonished twice.
The sheriff’s office was the first to present its financial needs in a series of meetings between the Board of County Commissioners and department heads. At the meetings, commissioners typically hear the successes and challenges of a department and often, a pitch for additional resources that may not be covered in the budget they are considering for 2025.
After a presentation by sheriff’s budget director Brian Seidler, Hayden set a stern tone with commissioners about the direction he felt the meeting should take.
“I’m responsible for what we do at the sheriff’s office, the way we operate and the way we conduct ourselves,” he said. “We are not a department. We are a separate office. We’re not here as a department to answer questions about the way we do things. If you have questions about funding, I will answer those questions. But anything that gets into the weeds of my department, you are not allowed.”
Commissioner Chairman Mike Kelly countered that because the office has the largest share of funding coming from ad valorem taxes, the commission is entitled to ask questions.
“This is an opportunity for us to ask questions regarding the budget. Some of that may come into operations,” Kelly said. “If you don’t want to answer, by all means I can’t force you to answer.”
Commission and sheriff have been at odds for months
Commissioners and Hayden have been at odds in recent months — namely over Hayden’s long-running investigation into election procedures and a speech to a right-wing gathering in which he called a couple of commissioners communists, to name two of those issues.
Late last year, commissioners also questioned a sheriff’s request for additional money for body cameras and other equipment. The request was made after the 2024 budget had already become final, and commissioners said they preferred the needs be taken care of through the regular budget process and not in a late request for additional money. However, they eventually approved it.
Absences are a recurring issue for the sheriff’s office
The county manager’s budget draft being considered for 2025 puts spending for the sheriff’s office at $119.6 million, an increase over the current $114.3 million budgeted. Of the proposed spending for next year, $71.7 million would come from property tax support, $40.2 million from public safety sales tax, and $7.72 million from non-tax revenue.
Commissioners and Hayden spent much of their time discussing overtime and staffing needs. About 80% of the sheriff’s budget is spent on personnel, with medical, mental health and food needs accounting for another 10%, according to the sheriff’s presentation.
But overtime has still been an issue, Hayden said. His office has asked for 10 detention deputies at an ongoing cost of about $1.3 million to deal with absences.
Without the additional officers in the budget, Seidler said the sheriff’s office staff may have to return once again to ask for more overtime money.
“Basically we’re just being asked to be real,” about the need for more staff, said Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara.
Commissioner Janeé Hanzlick asked Hayden what scheduling methods he’s looked into to reduce overtime. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do,” she said. “Oh yeah you are,” Hayden rejoined.
Hayden said his office has done “everything we can do to squeeze every dime out of a dollar” for taxpayers.
“I just wish those were listed,” Hanzlick replied.
About a dozen people attended in apparent support of Hayden, although there was no public comment period. There were several outbursts, with one woman interrupting to say “Our sheriff is between us and you.”
The onlookers were admonished twice by Kelly, who threatened to have them escorted from the room unless they stopped disrupting.
The budget meetings are informational, and no action was taken. They will continue, along with budget open houses, until the commission has its final budget vote Aug. 29.
