Public safety is extremely important to me and I don’t take the responsibility of funding it lightly. In 2018, Dawson County will spend 47 percent of the total budget on public safety. It is the number one priority and receives more funding than any other area. This year the sheriff’s office received a higher increase than any other department funded by the county. This funding increase is the largest single year increase received by the sheriff’s office in more than five years. While some have implied that Dawson County has decreased our investment in public safety, in reality, we have increased our financial commitment to keeping our community safe. When the 2018 budget was adopted it used 100 percent of revenue (the county’s income) plus over $1 million in reserves. We are not holding funding back for any department, and we are not flush with cash... the budget was and is based on spending every dollar we take in plus some. Another way to say this is revenue is not exceeding the expenses and we still have needs.