Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox reports his office remained within all approved budgets for 2019 and returned an amount of money to the county.
The Livingston County Clerk’s Expenditure Report from December 31st indicates the total spent for all 2019 sheriff’s office budgets was $1,452,061. The total of all budgeted sheriff’s office funds returned to the county commission was $137,232.
A total of $638,719 was spent of County Revenue—Sheriff, which was 97.02% of the budget, $489,056 of County Revenue—Jail, 85.07% of the budget; $3,944 of Law Enforcement Training, 82.12% of the budget; $14,967 of Inmate Security, 99.78% of the budget. $189,700 dollars was used of Law Enforcement Sales Tax—Sheriff, which was 91.36% of the budget; $99,095 of Law Enforcement Sales Tax—Other, 91.56% of the budget; $580 of Carrying a Concealed Weapon, 52.73% of the budget; and $15,991 of Civil Fees, which was 82.86% of the budget.
The county revenue and Law Enforcement Sales Tax are funded through dedicated sales tax in Livingston County, and the others are funded through civil service fees or legally obligated non-tax revenue.
The Inmate Security Funds budget is transferred each year and applied to medical care for detainees, which is a budget line item in the Law Enforcement Sales Tax. Fines for moving violations for traffic citations are collected through the court and distributed to public schools serving Livingston County children.
Cox reports a 31.8% increase in the number of calls for service from 2018 to 2019. Chillicothe Police Department Dispatching Supervisor data shows that in 2019, dispatched calls for service was up 2,050 to 6,437, answered incoming telephone calls at the sheriff’s office were up 2,560 to 24,213, and outgoing telephone calls at the sheriff’s office increased by 1,401 to 9,298.
There were 91.81 telephone calls per day at 365 days, which was an increase of 10.86 from 2018. The average number of telephone calls for each eight-hour day Monday through Friday at 261 weekdays was 128.39 compared to 113.21 in 2018.
Cox says his office only has eight road patrol deputies and himself to cover nearly 540 square miles in the jurisdiction. The area of phone calls into and out of the office “is another coverage issue,” as “often” three lines are being used at the same time.
The figures do not include citizen’s calls made to the dispatch office at the Chillicothe Police Department.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol Sex Offender Registration Unit indicates the number of registered criminal offenders in Livingston County decreased by four in 2019 to 39. The number of exotic animals in the county remained the same at three. The sheriff’s office is mandated to register certain criminal offenders and exotic animals. Cox says his office “takes sex offender registration very seriously” and conducts compliance checks and “actively” investigates violations.
Cox and his office “support and encourage qualified Livingston County residents to exercise their Second Amendment rights.” He adds that Missouri law does not require a permit to carry concealed within the state, however, he encourages residents to obtain their CCW permit, especially those who travel out-of-state.
Residents are also encouraged to check to see if where they are traveling will honor Missouri CCW permits. The number of new concealed carry permits in Livingston County was 16 in 2019, which was down from 29 in 2018. The number of renewed permits was 107, which was a decrease of 75.
