“Sometimes you just have to sit down at your desk and pull out your hair until you come up with budget cuts that aren't going to hurt that much!”

That was the advice Monday from Judge-Executive Gary Logsdon to Sheriff David Simon after Simon last week said budget shortfalls forced him to shut down the midnight shift of county patrols.

Logsdon said cuts here and there -- “fewer computers, less training, fewer cell phones, you can find money” -- and using the six constables, who have had some training, and the 8 to 10 special deputies would keep law enforcement at “not a great level, but better than nothing.”

Logsdon said there was a $36,000 shortfall at the Sheriff's Office last year, and this year, it's $23,000. He said that if any surplus develops at the county level, that can go to the sheriff, too.

“All I'm asking the sheriff to do,” he said, “is take time to sit down at his desk and figure out something to cut other than patrols.”

“I know how hard that is, because if the county budget comes up short, we've got nowhere else to go, so we have to cut corners where we can,” he said.

He pointed to overtime by deputies that went as high as 27-37 hours in a single pay period.

Simon said these hours often stack up when deputies or he have to travel out of state to pick up prisoners for trial in Grayson County, “and transporting juveniles is especially time-consuming and not reimbursed.”

He said that often deputies have to stay in court all day, “after an 8-hour shift.”