Butler County sheriff’s $2.5M wish list: Expanded dispatch center, shooting range paving and more

Butler County Jail on Hanover Street in Hamilton. GREG LYNCH / STAFF

Butler County Jail on Hanover Street in Hamilton. GREG LYNCH / STAFF

The Butler County sheriff’s office has the biggest budget countywide — around $40 million for next year — and its long-term capital projects would cost almost as much as the rest of county combined.

County Administrator Judi Boyko has compiled a list of capital projects for 2020 requested by all departments under the commissioners’ control and some elected officials. The requests total $3.6 million. Sheriff Richard Jones has his own list of future needs totaling $2.5 million.

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Chief Anthony Dwyer said with three jails, a dispatch operation for most of the county and citizen protection, equipment and buildings constantly need attention. He said the office has a list of expenses that totals more than $2 million, although most items are not critical for 2020 funding.

“The $2.5 million is what we’ve put in but clearly that is a place-marker to let the commissioners know our future needs,” Dwyer said. “It’s not something that we’re looking at expending in 2020 at all, if at all, and a lot of that comes down with our financial health and if we can keep it limping along.”

Expanding the dispatch center, a training and storage facility for the academy, $300,000 for fiber replacement and paving the driveway to shooting range are just a few things on the list.

“It’s a lot,” Dwyer said said. “But that’s done more for the understanding this is a long term budget we’re looking at, it’s what we see coming.”

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