Times sure must be tough in Osceola County.
What else could explain Wednesday's unanimous vote by the Osceola County Public Safety Commission to set preliminary budget expenditures for the county sheriff's department at a level $40,000 less than what Sheriff Doug Weber believes is necessary to operate his department. In a county where the sheriff's office is the sole law enforcement entity -- communities like Sibley, Ocheyedan and Melvin don't have their own municipal police departments -- a decision not to fund the sheriff's office with an amount Weber says he needs sends a bit of a distressing message.
Considering the vote of the Public Safety Commission was unanimous, it appears difficult to criticize its members as being spendthrifts. On the contrary, it appears the entity's hands may be tied somewhat. There is, quite apparently, a limited amount of money to go around for all of the various county departments and agencies, so law enforcement -- as we hope is the case across the board -- is taking its fair share of the hit. But when Weber insists he doesn't see any other area in which to cut ("It's hard to look at the budget every month when, pardon my expression, it's smoke in mirrors"), the decision to not fund Weber's budget request appears extra perplexing.
Should the preliminary budget be approved following a public hearing March 7, Weber will be faced with either having to trim staffing or delaying purchase of what he says is a necessary replacement emergency vehicle (if the current one is kept, money could be squandered on required repairs). Those are tough choices, and it's not just Weber and his department who would suffer. It's Osceola County as a whole, and its citizens.
