Tama County Sheriff Casey Schmidt.

I want to shout out to the Tama County Board of Supervisors as they work through this year’s and last year’s budget. It is not an easy job. There are a lot of moving parts and no perfect answers. From our side, we understand the reality. Budgets are tight everywhere, and we are not any different. At the same time, public safety does not slow down when money is tight. Crime doesn’t check the budget before it shows up, so neither do we.

Our staff are doing a lot with what we have. They show up every day and get the job done. I don’t want to sound like a broken record but it makes my job easier with great staff.

When I first took office, I had a lot of other Sheriffs tell me it would take a full term to really get settled in. There is definitely some truth to that. After this first year, I feel a lot more comfortable and confident in the role. I am still learning and still chipping away at many different things, but I love the job and we are moving forward.

There is also a bigger picture right now with the tax changes being talked about at the state level. I think most people would agree that paying less in taxes is a good thing. I do not want to pay more, and I do not think anyone does.

At the same time, those changes are going to affect how cities and counties operate. There will be less room to grow, and over time that is going to put pressure on services.

Some people will say if local government feels that pressure, it means we were taking too much to begin with. I understand why people think that. But there is a difference between cutting waste and cutting into the level of service people rely on. That is where the balance has to be. There is no magic switch where you lower costs and nothing else changes.

For me, it is pretty simple. I do not want higher taxes, but I also do not want to see a drop in service. That is what we are working through. It is going to take some work, but it can be done.

We are not standing still. Local law enforcement leadership has been meeting at least once a month to talk about school safety and how we can keep improving. We continue to work directly with the schools on that.

I am also really excited about a program we are rolling out next school year, the Be The Example award. It will recognize students across Tama County who are doing things the right way such as acts of accountability, respect, and integrity. There is a lot of good in our kids, and it absolutely deserves to be recognized.

That program will be community funded and supported. We will have more information coming out soon on how people can be part of it.

You will hopefully see more opportunities this summer with events and town halls. I want people to be able to come talk to me and ask questions. I also turned my campaign page into an official Sheriff Casey Schmidt page so people have another way to stay connected. It turns out talking in person is still better than arguing on the internet.

And I will be honest, my desk phone voicemail has been reminding me that I need to get better about returning calls. It is starting to feel personal at this point. That is on me, and it will get better.

We also attended the Tama County Pork Producers annual banquet in January. Our deputies and their families donated a lot of pies for the auction, and it ended up raising a good amount of money. I tried to butter up the judges, but it did not work. I did not win best pie this year. There is always next year. I have a year to work on the judges.

At the end of the day, my job is to be honest about what we need, be responsible with what we are given, and be accountable to the people we serve.

Casey Schmidt, a Republican from Dysart, is the sheriff of Tama County.