KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — You might see more deputies on the road in Kershaw County next year.
The Kershaw County Sheriff's Office is eyeing an expansion of its department in the 2023-2024 budget request to Kershaw County Council.
"We don't want to get to the point where we're behind, and now we're kinda stretched, stretched pretty thin now," Sheriff Lee Boan said. "So, now would be the time to grow to keep up with what we're dealing with and not get behind."
It was a call to action as Sheriff Boan presented to the council his request for the next budget cycle in which he wants to welcome eight more people to the department.
He's requesting four deputies, a drug investigator, a violent crimes investigator, an attorney, and a grant writer, bringing the department to a total of 100 people.
"This year we're hoping to play catch-up and get more personnel with the sheriff's office," he said.
The request, he said, is to keep up with growth.
"It's pretty clear our population is coming from the Columbia area. Over in Elgin we're seeing a lot more residents, and new developments building there," he said. "It's almost daily we see a new neighborhood pop in, and with that comes housing, and more of a need."
The sheriff also explained the reasons for his specific personnel hiring requests.
"We want four extra deputies, one per shift, to kind of expand the shift out somewhere," he said. "We asked for one extra drug investigator - we still are having a lot of overdose deaths."
He said that at one time these deaths went down but have since increased again.
"I haven't seen our final numbers but it wouldn't surprise me if we broke another record for most overdose deaths in 2022," Boan said. "So, we're asking for another drug investigator."
The estimated cost to fund eight new personnel and six vehicles in the first year, if all grants they apply for are approved, will come out to approximately $526,000.
If no grants are approved, it will come to around $656,000 a year for just the salary and not including vehicles or equipment.
The Kershaw County Council will continue its budget discussions Monday, March 27th at 1 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.