Sheriff contract grows to cover body cameras; county contribution offsets some cost, officials say

Committee members pressed county and sheriff representatives to explain how a new county body camera program affects municipal patrol contract rates. The chair (S1) said he worried Pewaukee residents were "paying double basically" for body cameras because taxpayers fund county services and also pay higher patrol contract fees.

A county representative (Josh Jones, S8, introduced by staff) responded that municipalities are not being double‑charged under the proposed cost allocations: "We are paying for the body cams," he said, then explained the funding split: "Of that, 280,000 is coming from the county. About 100,000 is coming from seized funds ... and the remainder is coming from the patrol contracts as a revenue." The county representative said personnel costs and new redaction software and staffing to handle records requests drove the overall contract increase to just under 6% in most municipal contracts.

Committee members asked for per‑unit cost estimates; the representative gave an upper‑end estimate of about $4,000 per deputy when personnel and smartphone costs are included and said the camera equipment itself is roughly $2,000 per unit per year. The committee accepted the explanation but asked staff to show breakdowns in the council packet so elected officials can see how county contributions, seized funds and patrol contract revenues combine to pay initial program costs.