York County law enforcement, legal and court professionals provide budget proposals amid growing criminal cases and costs

Editor’s note: This is the third and final installment regarding conversations the York County Commissioners had with department heads and elected officials regarding their proposed budgets for the 2026-27 fiscal year. 
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​YORK – As criminal activity and cases continue to increase in York County, it appears the cost of dealing with all that will be going up as well.
This past week, members of the York County Sheriff’s Office, the county attorney’s office, the district court office and the public defender’s office met with the York County Commissioners to talk about their proposed budgets.
These individuals met during a delayed session of the county board’s meeting, at 4:30 p.m., which was done in order to accommodate their schedules due to court sessions earlier in the day.
Sharilyn Steube, clerk of the district court, told the county she “stuck with the 3%, I made sure my employees got a 3% increase and there is nothing extravagant in the budget. There wasn’t much of an increase of anything.”
“You have had a few more jury trials this past year,” Commissioner Daniel Grotz noted.
Steube said yes, that was the case, but it is hard to put a figure on that in a budget because there is no way to know how many jury trials will take place in an upcoming fiscal year.
York County Sheriff Paul Vrbka handed the budget discussion over to Captain Josh Gillespie “as he will be taking my place in a few months.” Sheriff Vrbka has announced his upcoming retirement and Captain Gillespie is running unopposed for sheriff in the November General Election.
Captain Gillespie said their preliminary budget had a 6 .16% increase, “and there are multiple reasons why.” One reason is insurance costs. “And we are planning to add an officer in 2027 due to the increased call volume, our open shifts and overtime due to be short staffed. And the most expensive is the need for vehicles – our federal funds have steadily decreased over the years and there is uncertainty about the inheritance fund, so these vehicles need to be in the regular budget. Since 2020, we have enjoyed $660,000 in federal funds which we used for 11 vehicles and installs, and those funds are ending, so we will need to figure out how to maintain the fleet.”
Gillespie and Vrbka said the department needs to rotate 3-4 vehicles each year, as they put on between 350,000 and 400,000 patrol miles a year.
“With an added officer, what would be the dollar figure?” Commissioner Randy Obermier asked.
“About $70,000 would be the base range,” Gillespie said.
“So with our benefits, about $100,000 a year,” Obermier responded. Gillespie said yes, that would be the case.
“We are dealing with being short staffed and we need to have another officer on patrol,” Gillespie said. “We would then be up to 15 sworn officers.”
It was noted how a patrol unit is issued to each officer, “as they are called out 24-7, all over the county, as we are covering 500 square miles,” Gillespie noted. “It would cost about $65,000 each vehicle with the equipment and outfitting. The unit would be a base SUV with a bit of an upgraded engine” and other features for the safety of officers.
“Also, the state patrol is running low on manpower now and we get all the calls and we have to go out to the interstate for those calls when there are no troopers available in the county,” Sheriff Vrbka added. “And when Police Chef Prusia is gone or sick, we have to take all the Henderson calls too.”
Obermier asked how the staff count was at the county jail, with Gillespie saying it is currently fully staffed at this very moment.
York County Attorney Gary Olson told the commissioners, “I’m fully aware the increase in my budget is substantial. We currently have 2.65 attorneys now, but what the math shows is that we need the full-time equivalent of five full-time lawyers.”
Olson said that while the rural part of Nebraska is currently in an “attorney drought,” he has been in contact with a young lawyer who wants to work in the York County Attorney’s office.
He also noted how he has been watching the cost of living and he was basing many of his proposed salary increases on that figure.
“And when it comes to the number and cost of autopsies, we have no control over how many we will have or how much it will cost,” he added.
When it comes case numbers in both county and district courts, he said York County rivals larger counties such as Platte and Dodge Counties, “and they have five attorneys in their offices.
“Our traffic cases are triple of what is in Seward County,” Olson continued. “With the infrastructure we have, with the interstate and the highways, it is part of it. And we are blessed to have Taylor Samek who is a top DUI and DUI-D (drug) officer, maybe one of the best in the state, and the DUI-D cases and trials are much more complicated to try. These take more hours to handle. Also, the number of jury trials we have here, per capita, is the highest in the state of Nebraska. We are in a very, very unique situation. It’s positive that York County continues to grow and with growth comes people and with people comes more work for the York County Attorney’s office. Our demand will only just continue to grow.”
There was conversation about the federal grants which fund the diversion programs, how one grant has not officially yet been awarded and how one grant might be going away without any positive solution at this point as to how that loss of money might be remedied while keeping the program running.
York County Public Defender David Michel noted he will be retiring at the end of September, after serving in this capacity for seven years. Attorney Tim Matas will take over the position of public defender at that point and he is then running unopposed in the November General Election.
“We are requesting a 13% budget increase with the increase being almost entirely for personnel costs. The deputy public defender, which he hopes to hire (there hasn’t been one for a while) is the biggest portion of that cost and we’d like to see a pay increase for our office manager. Trying to find young attorneys to work in places like York is hard, but we have a duty to do our jobs and we will find someone. Western counties are offering $100,000 for these positions and we are asking for a competitive wage for our deputy. We know it’s an extra expense but it will result in cost savings because then the public defender’s office can take more cases (and court-appointed outside attorneys will not have to be utilized as much). This will give us room to continue to take cases. We have no control over case filings – it’s something we can’t control and can’t foresee.”