Sheriff Richard Jones warned that the rise in crime will continue if he has to lay off deputies.

"Two people shot and killed in Fairfield. It appears that it was murder-suicide," said Jones.

It was a violent weekend in Butler County after three separate shooting incidents.

"Violence is on the increase, not on the decrease. And the type of violence is really and the drug dealing is getting much more bizarre," said Jones.

Recently county officials asked the sheriff to cut a million dollars from his budget. That move resulted in 22 layoffs.

Jones joked that response time will definitely be affected with fewer deputies on patrol.

"If you're in a car crash, I guess what we could do with the commissioners that we have right now, I guess we could just wait till next day and if you could just survive until the next day, we could get a policeman out to you," said Jones.

Jones said commissioners want him to cut $2.5 million from his 2010 budget, which he said will force the layoff of 40 deputies.

"What do you expect me to do to fight crime? Use spitballs? That's about what it's come down to. I'm going to have to affect the bullets that we buy. It's going to affect the bulletproof vests," said Jones.
 
Commission President Don Dixon understands the sheriff's concerns. He supports the sheriff and doesn't want to see the department make cuts.

Other board members believe the cuts are necessary. Dixon said commissioners are asking every department to tell them what can and can't be cut.

"We've asked all department heads to submit a budget with mandated services only," said Dixon.

He said the county faces a $7 million budget hole for 2010. He blames that on county officials not knowing when to say no.

"The fact was Butler County was spending at a rate that was not even within reason," said Dixon.

County commissioners have until the end of the year to adopt a balance budget for next year.

Dixon said the operating budget will be around 83 million dollars in 2010.

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