The denial of a budget appropriation request related to salaries and staffing expenses is at the heart of a lawsuit filed by Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons in district court against the Summit Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, June 10.

According to a new release sent by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, the complaint stems from a resolution the commissioners adopted May 13 that the Sheriff’s Office says “retroactively denied a supplemental budget and appropriation of $1,260,000 for 2024 Sheriff’s Office staffing expenses.”

The release regarding the lawsuit claims associated wages had already been earned, approved by County Manager Dave Rossi and finance director Dave Reynolds and paid through standard payroll processes. The release further details that the budget appropriation request supports staffing and overtime expenses associated with a Board of County Commissioners-approved compensation plan from 2022. In 2022, the Sheriff’s Office, county staff and county commissioners worked together to develop a competitive compensation package in response to a what the release said was a “nationwide law enforcement recruiting and retention crisis.”

Summit County communications director Adrienne Saia Isaac said county government officials learned of the lawsuit via the press release the Sheriff’s Office sent around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and are reviewing it, while referencing that the county does not comment on pending litigation.

The Sheriff’s Office budget review and a discussion about decreasing its spending took place May 8, when county officials noted that full-time positions and spending on salaries within the Sheriff’s Office have increased since 2021. From 2021 to 2025, the Sheriff’s Office employee count rose from 97 to 125 and salary spending increased from $9.1 million to $17.2 million, according to the presentation to commissioners May 8.

Reynolds mentioned at the May 8 meeting that the county has used budget amendments to cover salary-driven budget deficits in the Sheriff’s Office and that the county is forecasting the Sheriff’s Office spending to be $734,000 over its budget this year, according to past Summit Daily News reports.

“That number really makes a lot of intuitive sense,” Reynolds said previously. “This board removed $600,000 from their salaries and wages budget, and to date, no plan to achieve those results has been shared with county staff.”

According to the lawsuit, the denial of the budget amendment have or will cause Sheriff’s Office employees to leave their employment.

“History can’t be rewritten just because the landscape has shifted,” FitzSimons said in the release. “Denying pay retroactively undermines our ability to retain and recruit personnel, contradicting the purpose of the plan we created together.”

In the complaint, it states the plaintiff requests a court enter an order vacating the commissioners’ denial of the budget amendment and requiring approval of the amendments or enter a declaration that the Summit Board of County Commissioners abused its discretion and must approve the budget amendments.

“This legal action is necessary to protect my ability to fulfill the statutory responsibilities entrusted to me by the people of Summit County,” FitzSimons said. “I remain hopeful these issues can be resolved amicably. As a three-term elected sheriff, I will continue to stand up for the public safety resources our community has come to depend on.”