The LaSalle County Sheriff’s Office told the Finance Committee on Oct. 29 that required K‑9 training and minimum staffing levels are major causes of department overtime, but that much of the overtime is offset by reimbursements from grants and task forces.

The sheriff (unnamed in the transcript) said new K‑9 handlers attend an out‑of‑county academy and the department occasionally pays a retired trainer a small monthly fee from the drug fund to provide supplemental training. ‘‘We pay them out of drug fund,’’ the sheriff said, adding the trainer’s fee is modest (a few hundred dollars monthly).

Committee members and staff discussed recent overtime trends and reimbursements. Finance staff and the sheriff listed recent buyback/reimbursement sources and amounts: miscellaneous agency patrol ($55,000), U.S. Marshals ($37,000), and Illinois Department of Transportation buybacks (~$74,000). The sheriff said the department had ‘‘brought back’’ roughly $180,000 through such reimbursements this year.

After reviewing staffing and reimbursement patterns, the committee directed staff to reduce the patrol overtime line to $500,000 in the draft budget. Committee members said the county should revisit the overtime trend in a midyear review after additional deputies hired earlier this year become fully on‑line and grant reimbursements continue to be tallied.

Why it matters: overtime is a material line in the sheriff’s budget and influences the county’s general fund projections. The committee’s reduction reflects the combination of (a) newly budgeted deputies expected to reduce sustained overtime, and (b) recurring, partially reimbursable overtime tied to intergovernmental task forces and grants.