Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s line item veto of $13 million from the Michigan State Police Secondary Road Program is not sitting well with Sheriff’s around the state, and that includes those within Branch County.

All of this coming at a time when the county is finally making headway into putting more deputies on the road. Two additional deputies for the Branch County Sheriff’s Department are in the proposed 2020 County General Fund budget, but as Pollack told the Branch County Board of Commissioners during their work session this past Friday, the loss of the dedicated funds because of the Governor’s veto would affect his department because it could mean to loss of one of his deputies.

If the funding is not put back into the state budget, Pollack said they would be looking at going back to having Monday through Friday patrols, with no patrols on weekends and leaving more of the responsibility within those in the Michigan State Police.