Fairfield court to buy new Kevlar vests for bailiffs

“The manufacturer says they’re good for five years,” Campbell said. “My gentleman have been wearing them for 16. It’s time to update them. We live in a different world now, so I want to make sure they’re well-protected.

The next item is to replace the now 16-year-old metal detector that was paid for through grant from the Ohio Supreme Court.

“There’s no more grant money for that, so we’re going to have to pay for that,” said Campbell. “It’s vital to have that. It’s amazing what people try to bring to court.”

A new metal detector is projected to cost around $8,500, but court administrator Ed Roberts said it could come in a little lower.

The court’s budget is a little more than 6 percent of the city’s overall general fund expenditure budget, which is projected to be $71.3 million for 2017. The largest budget expenditure for Fairfield is the police department, which accounts for roughly 42 percent of the budget, or around $12.1 million.

The department’s 2017 projected budget set to be almost 0.3 percent down from the 2016 estimated budget.

“Our personnel costs are going down,” said Police Chief Mike Dickey. “We’ve had some retirements and transitioned to where we’re hiring newer officers at a lower pay scale, so I think that adds to it.”

Dickey said the department has been down positions since 2008, but the department is expected to be fully staffed next year with 61 officers.

Though the projections for the police department budget — and that includes the budget for the Justice Center, which houses the police department and municipal court — could increase the overall budget, Dickey said.

Though the 2017 budget is projected lower than the 2016 estimated budget, that’s in part because of utility costs. A mild winter helped with low utility costs, and Dickey anticipates another mild winter for 2017.

And gasoline prices are equally fluid.

“There are going to be those kinds of costs that go up and down, and we just have to make budget adjustments throughout the year because candidly you can’t foresee the cost of gasoline day to day much less a year in advance,” Dickey said.

City Council continues its budget talks at 6 p.m. Monday at the city building, 5350 Pleasant Ave. A public hearing of the budget will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 12, also at the city building.