By james art 
Reno County is fortunate to have a majority of good and dedicated officers in its Sheriff’s Department. They often do difficult and dangerous work to keep us safe and comfortable, while sometimes having to rush into threatening situations, risking their lives to save people they don’t know but are sworn to protect.
Having said that, it is noticeable that the office is becoming much more expensive to run with the questionable decisions of Reno County Administrator Randy Partington and the county commissioners. They have apparently made sure that any amount of money spent on law enforcement is justified with little or no questions asked.
There is a staggering increase of nearly $1.5 million in the sheriff’s 2025 budget. compared to last year. The exact figure appears to be $1,468,000, with $636,000 more for staff and benefits, $820,000 more for staff and jail operations, and at least another $13,000 to take over courthouse security and dump a private company.
Two more entry-level jail officers were added to guard the courts, bringing the cost to $254,289. The sheriff and administrator say that while there haven’t been major problems with using private security to contain costs, having only staff at sheriff will produce better results.
Those who question the move note that overtime will be used when those added employees are unavailable, making it difficult, if not impossible, to determine exactly how much more the change will cost. And history shows that adding two people now often grows to four or five in subsequent years.
The private firm wasn’t even given a chance to propose a new contract and compare costs to the original $13,000 increase, called a “wash” by the county administrator, whose history of trying to hold back the sheriff and other county costs is slim.
Partington says the $1.5 million cost escalation is the result of “market-based pay adjustments to address jail staff shortages, along with other commission-approved increases.” This is where a fox comes in to guard the hen house, but is nowhere to be seen in the court.
Overtime in the sheriff’s department has been a long-ignored problem. Last year, office, patrol and jail overtime costs totaled a staggering $1,213,993.89. This year’s overtime budget offers some hope with a budget of $920,748, in large part because previously open overtime positions have improved, leaving more full-time staff and less reliance on overtime.
Only the two court security officers were added this year, bringing the total staff to 100. Partington quoted Sheriff Campbell as saying that after the past big raises and the hiring of other officers, “it’s gone from the worst it’s been to seen for 30 years, to an almost fully staffed department.”
The local sheriff’s office also lobbied hard for over $2 million to be built near the county depot, with $1,450,000 coming from a bond issue that does not appear in the sheriff’s budget. Also being considered is a combined sheriff’s office (moving out of the courthouse), emergency management and possibly moving 911 to a new building adjacent to the South Severance Jail.
Reno County’s overall tax levy fell slightly this year, but thanks to higher assessments, the county collected $366,000 more in local property taxes, which rose 4.11 percent to $9,290,782.
Dan Deming, former general manager of Hutchinson radio station KWBW and former Reno County Commissioner, can be reached at 620-960-6733 or [email protected].