Police Chief Timothy Jackson presents the 2025 budget for the Jamestown Police Department to the city council during Monday night’s budget presentations before the work session. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

The need for more police officers was noted as a point of concern as the Jamestown Police Department presented its budget to the city council on Monday.

Police Chief Timothy Jackson presented some of the big areas of concern looking at the 2025 budget, starting with fuel concerns. He said that it is projected that the department will spend $80,000 this year on fuel.

“That’s why for next year, 2025, we’ve requested $96,000,” Jackson said. “We were provided $60,000. So, if we’re given $60,000 we’re going to do a grant over time to meet that, unless there’s a drop in fuel costs next year, which I don’t see happening, because we’re projected to spend $80,000 this year.”

Buy money was requested for this year and not received, so Jackson said the department will resort to asset forfeiture again for buy money for narcotics investigations. He added that last year was the first year in several years that the department was given buy money, so the plan is to return to asset forfeiture money like was used in the past.

“The problem with that is you never know how much you’re going to get,” Jackson said. “This year so far we’ve received $5,873. We spend about $1200 a month, so there’s no way to estimate how much you’re going to get.”

The council asked if it was possible to use the money that comes in from narcotics cases, which Jackson said they can but that money gets divided among the departments that have worked the case. Councilman Russell Bonfiglio, R-At Large, asked about vehicle possession from narcotics cases and how those vehicles were sold.

Jackson said everything gets put together and divided between those who worked the case, adding that vehicle possession usually comes from bigger cases, which there have not been that many in the area. Local cases that can involve the police department taking possession of a vehicle is very rare, Jackson said, and that it is something that happens usually in federal cases. Money that comes in from those cases follows very strict guidelines and cannot be used for just anything, and another problem follows that sometimes cases can take years to play out in federal courts.

Other discussions with the council included equipment and repairs, council security, and the incoming two new cars, along with retirement buyout for two officers that have the potential to retire. Following this, discussion moved to what the department’s biggest problem is at the current moment, which Jackson said is manpower and hiring and retaining new officers.

Councilman Brent Sheldon, R-Ward I said he thought the academy currently has about 15 recruits. Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large, noted that those recruits are not just for not just the police department but for the whole county.

In total, Jackson said the department has 58 officers at the moment, where they are normally at 62.

“So, my question is, if you find people who want a job and want to work, are you going to be able to go back to 60 or 62 with your budget right here?” Russell asked.

Jackson said yes, the budget can account for that and that for rank and file, they are currently in negotiations.