Issue of the Month: Kent County Sheriff’s Department

As our county prepares a new budget for next year I want to discuss the department that takes the biggest share of the general fund. This is the Sheriff’s department with its 550 employees. The Sheriff is responsible for enforcement of both criminal and civil law in the areas surrounding the immediate six city jurisdictions. It is responsible for operating an emergency call dispatch center for answering all 911 calls in the county, as well as operating the countywide emergency management center in the event of natural or man caused disasters—such as the recent flooding conditions this past April. The county Correctional Facility houses up to 1,100 inmates, and is available to all police departments and courts for housing individuals breaking local and state laws. Judges can assign up to one-year county jail terms. The total budget for the Sheriff’s Department is projected to be nearly $70 million. Nearly $60 million of that is received from general tax revenue, and the remaining $10 million through a special ’correctional center’ tax paid by all county citizens. Although the normal budget gives sufficient funds to the Sheriff to provide minimal road patrols to all townships, the Sheriff does maintain contracts with several of the more populated townships for enhanced patrol services and the townships pay for these extra services. The Sheriff does have a mounted patrol to provide specialized services to cities and areas at request.