More budget cuts aim at sheriff's office Money is restored for Teen Court By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle The Brown County Sheriff's Department, trying to battle cuts imposed by County Executive Carol Kelso, now faces even more cuts. The recommended budget coming from the county's Public Safety Committee on Thursday includes a reorganization plan suggested by Sup. John Gower that cuts staffing to 289.1 full-time employees, down from 291.2 in Kelso's proposed budget and 312.7 requested by Sheriff Dennis Kocken. The proposal should produce for a long debate next week when the County Board finalizes the budget. Gower's proposal would cut the number of sergeants from 28 under Kelso's plan to 11 but increase the number of lieutenants from 10 to 20. That's a total of 31 supervisory officers under the new plan, as opposed to 38 under Kelso's budget. Gower's plan would switch the department from five divisions to four. It would also increase the number of deputies from 89.6 to 95. Gower had originally suggested 89, but added six when told by Kocken he would have to replace six patrolling sergeants. Gower had estimated savings of $999,706 from Kelso's budget before the six deputies were added. Kocken said he was not pleased by the suggestion. "You make it sound like those sergeants weren't doing anything," he said. "The work they did isn't going to go away." He said the cutting of 38 people from his proposed budget would "totally erode public safety ... and morale in the department." Gower said he wanted more supervision and only kept sergeants with specific duties, such as investigation. Lieutenants have more of a supervisory role than sergeants. The vote to pass the reorganization was 3-2, with Gower joined by Guy Zima and Andy Nicholson. Sups. Harold Kaye and Keith Watermolen voted no. Two programs cut by Kelso were returned to the proposed budget, both aimed at crime prevention. One is Teen Court, a program that uses teens to judge their peers on offenses that might normally end up in municipal court. Several speakers, both program officials and teen volunteers, said it worked because the peer pressure straightened out offenders when adult pressure might not. An addition of $45,000 to the budget will cover just over half of the program's expenses. The committee also added $43,328 to the budget for maintenance of its communications system.