COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – With an important bond sale scheduled for early next year which will help finance the new Branch County Jail, the Branch County Board of Commissioners decided during their work session on Thursday to bring forward to next week’s meeting a 2019 budget that for now does not include an additional deputy and four new vehicles for the Sheriff’s Department. The four vehicles would have replaced those that are nearly a decade old.
But commissioners agreed to revisit the deputy matter once the bonds for the jail are sold and they see what the financial rate is. The tone of their conversation seemed to indicate they would be receptive to bringing an additional deputy on board. Commissioners also indicated the additional deputy question could be addressed sooner than the original plan of taking it up during a June audit. The budget would have to be amended if an additional deputy is brought on board.
Commissioners have expressed concerns about dipping further into the county fund balance to help pay for the requests from the Sheriff’s Department especially since it could affect the county’s bond rating of Double A minus. Lowering it would be an additional burden for county taxpayers.
The budget will have to be amended anyway in 2019 once a Public Defender is hired as part of the Branch County Indigent Defense system. Each county in Michigan was required to create an indigent defense plan due to a 2012 lawsuit. Part of the settlement called for the State of Michigan to implement a plan so that a defendant who was indigent would have proper legal representation.
Formal adoption of the $13.5 million budget, which would have a deficit of about a half million dollars, is scheduled for next Tuesday.
Commissioners also decided to bring forward to next Tuesday formal action on a hard cap for the 2019 county employee insurance plan.
