As part of the county budget process for 2026, Summit Board of County Commissioners is hearing preliminary presentations from each elected office. On Tuesday, Sept. 16, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office made its presentation.

Sheriff’s Office funding has been a focal point in budget discussions in recent months. A citizen budget advisory committee in May suggested the commissioners make cuts from the office, and the county identified the office’s budget as a challenge during a forecast that predicted multimillion-dollar deficits unless the county takes “significant action.”

Undersheriff Peter Haynes and Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons presented to the commissioners Tuesday, detailing notable parts of the office’s preliminary budget proposal. Haynes said a recently completed staffing survey shows the office should have three to five more deputies on staff than it has currently.

Haynes said the study also calculated that the office’s yearly overtime budget should be about $185,000. 

“I bring this up, and some other stuff up, because we didn’t ask for anything (in the 2026 budget proposal),” Haynes said. “We know where we are in the county. … We’re trying to be conscious about what we’re putting into our budget.”

Later, Haynes said the overtime budget currently sits at $100,500. A budget analysis shows the office spent around $275,000 in overtime in 2024, budgeted for $100,500 for 2025 and is projected to spend nearly $139,000 in 2025.

Commissioner Eric Mamula later asked Haynes to further explain the study’s suggestion of $185,000 in overtime. Haynes said he brought up overtime spending because the office went over its overtime budget in 2024.

The staffing survey used a formula that took into account the office’s staffing, the number of calls for service it receives and its attrition rate to calculate what it should budget for overtime work. Haynes said some, but not all, overtime costs can be reduced with staffing changes.

“Some pieces are scheduling,” Haynes said. “Some pieces are people are taking calls for service that take longer after their shift ends. … There’s filling shifts when people are on vacation, when people are on sick leave.”

A recently completed salary survey came back “better than I could have anticipated,” Haynes said, adding that the office will make no new requests based on its results. 

Keeping up with the news is hard. Keep it simple with one weekly newsletter.

Sign up at SummitDaily.com/newsletter

“We are getting to a place that is appropriate for our salaries in the area,” Haynes said.

Haynes said the Sheriff’s Office cut six positions for the 2025 budget and will cut three more for 2026. The office will contract work to address the loss of one of the three 2026 cuts, a clinical program manager, but Haynes said “there is a savings there.”

“As I looked at this over the last eight months, right, there’s nine positions that we’ve taken out of our office, which was substantial for us,” Haynes said.

The county’s budget projections do not calculate Sheriff’s Office salaries “the way we believe they should be,” Haynes said. The projections, he said, do not include the Sheriff’s Office’s “Step Plan,” which gives annual wage increases between 5% to 7% to certain law enforcement positions for their first five years of service and was implemented by the Sheriff’s Office in 2022.

Haynes said it would be “detrimental” to the Sheriff’s Office if the budget removed any recruitment and retention efforts, like the Step Plan.

FitzSimons wrote in a statement to Summit Daily that recruitment and retention that “takes years to build can be undone in one budget cycle, leaving us unable to meet our community’s needs.” He wrote that position cuts save “nearly $1.3 million.”

The sheriff’s statement says government leaders across the state have recognized that “public safety cannot be compromised and must remain a priority” during budget reductions. 

“I trust our (commissioners) will reach the same conclusion,” FitzSimons statement read. “We’ve done our part — but if more cuts are demanded, the community should decide which public safety services are prioritized and which they’re willing to lose.”

Haynes said the Sheriff’s Office looked to present budgets for each of its departments that were flat or under 2025 spending. He said that as budget conversations continue, the office hopes to not have “cuts being made that we aren’t aware of.”

Commissioner Nina Waters asked if the Sheriff’s Office’s staffing survey included town police departments. Haynes said police departments had recently done staffing surveys, but they were separate. Waters suggested compiling the studies to understand the “full scope” of law enforcement response in the county.

FitzSimons said the company that did the staffing reports has expressed willingness to present to the commissioners about the study and suggested they ask the company about the viability of Waters’ idea.

Waters also asked if the Sheriff’s Office would be willing to work with the county finance department to find more cost savings in order to maintain its Step Plan.

“We’re willing to work through anything, I’ll be honest with you right now, because I believe that that Step Plan is that important,” Haynes said.