COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The already limited number of deputies at the Branch County Sheriff’s Department has been spared another reduction for the time being. The Michigan House Appropriations Committee this week ended the state budget fiscal year on Wednesday with the approval of a wavier for Branch County that saved the Department’s secondary road grant funding.
Sheriff John Pollack testified before the committee, explaining the history of the road patrol deputy staffing in Branch County. The road patrol funds are awarded each year as long as the department maintains its staffing levels. When the program starting in 1978, Branch County’s road patrol staffing level was 13. However, with the local budget cuts in 2013 and the resulting layoffs, Pollack explained how the county staffing level fell to 8 and that put the county in danger of losing its funding. He said the loss of the current funding of $69,000 would mean the layoff of yet another deputy.
After Pollack’s testimony, along with that of the Undersheriff of Wayne County, the Committee granted the waivers for Branch and Wayne and two other counties with similar financial difficulties.
