Sheriff decreases overtime, goes under budget - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

The Woodbury County Sheriff's Department's felt the heat the last several years, because of overtime budget issues.

A year ago, they said they needed more money to keep deputies on the street.  Tuesday, they reported being under budget by almost half.

They had $261,000 in their overtime budget this past year, and only spent $157,000.  This is the lowest the sheriff's overtime costs have been in six years.

The Corrections Division dropped from $82,000 to $24,000 spent on overtime.  The Uniform Division, which encompasses all of the patrol personnel dipped down from $60,000 six years ago to $31,000 in 2012.

"You'll never cut out all the overtime because we don't know what circumstances are out there, or what's going to happen.  We have tried our best to keep the costs down, because after all, we're all taxpayers too," explained Sheriff Glenn Parrett.  

Technology has played a big part in cutting costs.  Parrett said the computers in their cruisers save deputies and office workers the time of filling out paper work.

More good news could be coming.  Sheriff Parrett says the department may be able to give the county back some money from their overall budget.