Council approves $164,115 sheriff retirement appropriation; vehicle replacement will wait until next month

A county official read a letter from Sheriff Heichman explaining a clerical error: although $164,115 had been budgeted in 2025 for the sheriffretirement employer contribution, the amount was not expended and reverted at year-end. The sheriff requested an appropriation to cover the employer contribution for 2025.

The official said the county had included the amount in the 2025 budget but the payment was not processed because a claim was not submitted; the office had previously relied on internal processing. "The amount of $164,115 was included in the 2025 budget for sheriff retirement but was not expended during the year," the official read.

Council members described the omission as a clerical error and moved to approve the appropriation. The motion to approve the additional appropriation for the sheriff retirement fund passed 6-0. The official also described a separate request for vehicle replacement after a deputyvehicle was totaled: the vehicle cost is $49,500, insurance proceeds were $13,500, and the sheriff asked to appropriate $36,000 from the jail operation fund. That vehicle appropriation was not before the council at the March meeting because the request arrived after the packet deadline and will be addressed next month.

What happens next: the approved appropriation will be routed to the auditor for processing. The vehicle replacement request will be included on a future agenda once the appropriation paperwork is complete and available to the council.