Augusta supervisors place body cameras for sheriff's office in preliminary budget
VERONA – “If it was up to me, I’d just wade right on into the sheriff’s office because we know it’s a controversy. Let’s get it over with.”
Augusta County Supervisor Gerald Garber spoke up around the one hour, twenty-minute mark of the Board of Supervisors budget working session on Monday. County Administrator Timothy Fitzgerald asked the room how they wanted to work their way through the budgets. At first, the silent consensus was line by line. Instead, Garber pushed to begin with the big question.
Fitzgerald continued, “In the operating budgets within the departments, such as the sheriff’s office, there are some things there that are cut from the budget that this board is going to want to talk about.” He listed some of new officer positions before saying, “He’s got body cameras in there. All that’s in the request. It’s not in the balanced budget. Those are things this board is going to have to talk about.”
“Most of us have a handle on what we need to talk about,” said Supervisor Butch Wells. “I don’t see a need to go through every section because there are sections in there that I’m fine with. The first one that jumps out at me, I’m like Gerald, is the sheriff’s department. I think body cameras need to go back in the budget.”
Body cameras were added in last year's workshop, but removed in the April approval vote
The supervisors have discussed body cameras for the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office for the past several years. According to Sheriff Donald Smith, body cameras have been in his budget requests since 2016. The News Leader's previous deep dive into the recent history of body camera policy in the county showed many supervisors’ hesitation to adopt body cameras, most often citing funding issues.
In 2023, body cameras included in the workshop budget but were removed in April during the budget’s final approval. The cuts included the cameras and the one-cent real estate tax that would have paid for them. At the time, current chair Jeffrey Slaven explained, “We had a budget that was balanced so we could move forward without messing with the taxes to at least get it through our reassessment and be fair to property owners.”
Since then, the anticipated assessments are in, with a 54% average increase.
The sheriff’s office began a trial of body cameras earlier this year. After the budget workshop, Administrative Lieutenant Leslie Snyder told The News Leader, “The trial period is still ongoing at this time. The cameras have been instrumental in capturing critical video evidence during several incidents over the past several weeks.”
Dipping toes in the budget pool
Settling into the sheriff’s budget, the supervisors came to personnel first.
“This is separate from any discussion of body cameras,” Fitzgerald said.
The sheriff’s office requested a training sergeant, an evidence room sergeant, one lieutenant for courtroom security, and five bailiffs. According to Fitzgerald, the lieutenant and bailiffs are for the under-construction Augusta County Courthouse, so they were not included in the coming year’s budget before the building is expected to open. None of these positions were included in the balanced budget, but over $300,000 for the two sergeants and their equipment were included in the $12 million real estate tax increase proposed at the end of the work session.
Wells, due to his previous experience leading a police department, has been working with the sheriff to reduce the price of the two officers, but supported putting them in the budget. “I think those two positions are well justified,” Wells said.
“The other cuts to the sheriff’s budget are just minor cuts until you get to the question of body cameras,” Fitzgerald continued. “When it comes to the body camera project, he had requested both body cameras and in car cameras.”
Just before Fitzgerald spoke, Supervisor Chair Jeffrey Slaven got up, and slipped out of the room.
Body cameras have a set cost this time
In April 2022, Supervisor Michael Shull estimated body cameras would cost about $1 million per year and would require adding two cents to the real estate tax rate. Seaton disagreed, saying the estimated cost would be around $600,000.
Fitzgerald gave a precise number – $877,049 in 2025. This is not a one-time fee, but the first year in a five-year contract. In 2026, the contract costs $854,506.
The 2025 cost includes:
two required technical staff for the sheriff’s office, about $175,000.
two required staff for the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, about $200,000.
110 body cameras and 60 in-car cameras, about $460,000.
a one-time cost of $16,400 for computers and furniture.
The price remains over $800,000 a year for the length of the contract, not an insignificant price. Fitzgerald also noted there would be a new five-year contract after the first expires, “My guess is that number is going up after that five-year, not likely to go down. I haven’t seen too many go down in contracts lately.”
“If you do a one cent increase, you roughly could cover body cameras and you could cover the evidence room person and the training person,” said Supervisor Carolyn Bragg.
Slaven proposed raising the cigarette tax to fund the police department.
“We can go to 40 [cents a pack],” Slaven said. “I don’t know anybody that’s going to drive very far to save 10 cents on a pack of cigarettes, whether they buy them in Staunton or Augusta County. It’s money we’re leaving on the table we don’t have to burden our property owners and business owners with.”
The first three unofficial votes cast
“Keep in mind, you’re in a changing world,” said Garber. “It’s better that it's changing. My position has always been, and I’ve always told [the sheriff], that the minute you look me in the eye, privately, when you don’t have to say anything for or against with the world listening to you, and tell me that’s your priority, and I’ll support it. Once we get past these two positions, everything else he’s asked for, whatever else, that’s now his priority.”
That’s one vote.
“You said that is his priority?” Bragg asked.
“He said it’s his priority, once we get past these two positions,” Garber said.
The News Leader confirmed Sheriff Smith’s support after the meeting. Smith wrote, “I strongly feel that it is past time to implement a camera program for the County’s Law Enforcement. This advertised rate also addresses several requested positions within the Sheriff’s Office that have been removed in past years to balance the budget. I support the efforts made by County Administration and the Board of Supervisors to address the needs of Emergency Services, while being mindful of those that live in our community.”
“As Gerald said, we’re in a changing society,” Wells added. “Our deputies, not only our deputies but other law enforcement officers out here in this world today are facing more situations involved with potential shootings, officer shootings, than we’ve ever seen. Back when I worked, if we ran across a person with a firearm, that was big talk for six months. Now, it’s happening multiple times a week.”
Add his comments at the start of the discussion, that’s two votes.
Garber turned to Seaton, “I think it’s fair to say you’re in favor.”
The supervisors discussed three officers on administrative leave in December. Deputy Andrew Simonetti was placed on leave after a video emerged showing him immediately tackling a suspect when he arrived on the scene after receiving a call for backup. A second Augusta deputy, Sgt. William Mikolay, was charged by the Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office with malicious wounding, misdemeanor assault, and battery. Investigator C.J. Taylor was convicted of two misdemeanor assault and battery charges in Staunton in February. An appeal has been filed in Taylor’s case.
Body cameras were at the center of the December discussion. Seaton pushed for a camera program.
“On the campaign trail, I talked to deputies, police officers in Staunton and Waynesboro and they really like their body cameras,” said Seaton. “It protects them from false accusations and provided evidence for the prosecution against suspects accused of crimes.” Specifically addressing the Mikolay case, Seaton said, “None of us know if the deputy is guilty or innocent, yet a body camera could have easily clarified and prevented the situation.”
“I haven’t changed my position,” Seaton replied on Monday.
That’s three votes.
Can the board get to majority support?
Returning to the room, Slaven sat down and listened, stroking his chin. The smaller questions began.
Supervisor Micheal Shull asked if Smith has gotten all the officers to support the program. Garber joked if he could do that about any topic, and Wells pointed out that the responsibility for the call was on Smith.
Garber compared the situation to county officers moving away from revolvers when he was a supervisor in the 1990s.
Deputies would require additional training for the cameras, something the new training sergeant could handle.
Cloud-based data storage is included in the contract quote provided.
“The number of personnel that we needed was based on the body cameras that we would have, is that correct? Since he’s decreased that number?” Supervisor Pam Carter asked, referring to the technical four new workers for the sheriff and Commonwealth Attorney’s office.
In January, Carter withdrew a recusal to break a tie vote, approving her appointment as Vice Chair. During the discussion, Seaton asked if she would support body cameras. She replied she would, but she did not confirm this during Tuesday’s discussion.
“It’s still over the threshold,” Fitzgerald replied. “The code of Virginia tells you, based on the number of cameras you have, how many people you have to have.” According to Wells, Smith’s initial request included two body cameras for each officer. The current request is 80 cameras lower.
“Thanks for letting me step out for a second, I had a call,” Slaven began. “I thought long and hard about this. I’ll just tell y’all, I’ve wrestled with this, some of you all know that, pretty hard.”
When Slaven was voted in as chair, Seaton directly asked if he would support body cameras. “No sir,” he replied.
“I want to do what we can to enable our law enforcement officers in this county to be on an equal playing field in a sensitive situation or be able to defend themselves with video if need be," Slaven said. However, he continued on to ask, "are we creating an avenue to have our deputies, law enforcement in this county, tormented, undermined, and actually take that information just to use against them constantly?”
“But the flip side of that –“ began Carter.
“I know there’s a flip side, but there is two sides,” Slaven said. Slaven also expressed he had “heartburn” over putting any real estate tax increases towards the camera proposal.
“Just because you put a body camera on them, it doesn’t increase that,” Wells responded. “As soon as you put your badge on or take your oath, that’s part of the game you assume when you become a police officer.”
“Our police officers have endured a lot of that the past few years,” Slaven said. “Disrespect, constant questions about everything they do, accusations that do not have any basis, a bombardment of it.”
Garber referenced a specific but unnamed person, saying he and Slaven have both spoken to him. “He oughta know where this puts him. I heard you point that out to him, that that might be a concern, but he’s got to live with it," Garber concluded.
“I’m not debating,” Slaven said. “I’m just making peace with myself, that we all know it, before we move forward.”
Body cameras were placed in the proposed budget. It goes to public comment during the April 17 supervisors meeting before the board votes to approve or modify it later in April. The advertised real estate tax rate is 52 cents per $100 of assessed value, which might look like a drop from 63 cents, but is actually a $12 million tax increase. The cigarette tax was set at 30 cents per pack, raising an additional $400,000.
The board took a five-minute break before continuing with the workshop.
The county posted a page on the FY25 budget to its website. A video of the eight-hour budget workshop is available by clicking here and using the passcode “Q$qil6.G” when prompted.
Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It’s welcome through email to lbordelon@gannett.com. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
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This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta supervisors place body cameras for sheriff's office in preliminary budget
