COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Branch County Sheriff’s Department’s proposed $7.03 million budget for 2026 includes a $1.5 million increase from the 2025 budget, aiming to address staffing challenges and improve deputy retention and recruitment.
This increase is largely due to a proposed 21 % wage increase for deputies, which Sheriff Fred Blankenship is hoping will help keep positions filled as the department has consistently lost officers to other departments due in part to what has been a significant gap in in pay.
The Police Officers Association of Michigan, representing road patrol and corrections officers, has accepted the proposed contract. The current contract for deputies is set to expire at the end of the year.
The department also recently received nearly $196,00 in grant funding from Coldwater Township to purchase new equipment, including tasers, handguns, and launch a mobile app .
Earlier this year the sheriff’s department secured $650,000 annually for staffing of overnight overnight road patrols that resumed back in April after being eliminated in 2012 due to budget constraints.
DO IT!