KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. This story began with a tip to Platte County reporter Marlon Martinez to attend a meeting Monday night in Platte Woods. Ryan covers rural communities for KSHB 41 and is dedicated to telling stories in the metro's small towns. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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A budget debate included a rebuke Monday from Platte County Prosecutor Erik Zahnd when the Platte County Commission voted unanimously to approve the county's 2026 budget.
Zahnd voiced his concerns about the public safety portion of the budget to the commission.
“It’s going to make Platte County a more dangerous place. And that worries me,” Zahnd told KSHB 41 on Monday afternoon. “We’re going to have fewer deputies on the street. And if you don’t have the boots on the ground, crime is going to go up. That’s a problem.”
Zahnd says his employees are going to take a pay cut and the office’s budget is impacted about $60,000.
“I feel bad for my assistant prosecutors who are working every single day and all of them have taken a pay cut to work in public service,” he said. “If you can’t get the cases through the courts, nothing happens either. I’ve lost prosecutors to other offices, and frankly, private practice, where we’re never going to be able to compete.”
Zahnd’s biggest concern is that the commission “cut” $600,000 from the budget that supports law enforcement.
Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker, didn’t see it that way during an interview with KSHB 41 News Reporter Ryan Gamboa.
“Our Platte County public safety is in great shape," Fricker said. "The sheriff is fully funded with all the tools he needs to get his job done and keep people safe. The prosecutor’s office is the same. Instead of giving the prosecutor’s office a 5% raise, we gave them the same thing that we gave everybody in the county — 2.5%.”
That’s from a Cost-of-Living Adjustment, or COLA. According to Fricker, the last three budget cycles have offered extensive raises for sheriff’s deputies. He says there are no longer any vacancies in the Sheriff’s Department and so there is no need to continue to increase costs.
“We don’t have to be the highest-paying law enforcement agency in the area,” he said.
Fricker went on to add that if retention concerns are an issue this year, the commissioners can address those concerns in the next cycle.
“I don’t see people leaving in droves,” he said.
The small city of Platte Woods. nestled along Interstate 29, is currently going through issues of its own with public safety. Maintaining a police department was too expensive for the city's approximately 400 residents.
Platte County Sheriff Erik Holland told Platte Woods residents at a Monday night meeting the dissolution of its police department requires the Sheriff’s Office to take over public safety calls. The city is taking public input as to what a permanent solution for policing will be now that Platte Woods dissolved its police department.
“The sheriff’s department all of the sudden is going to have another city that it has to patrol,” Zahnd told KSHB 41 ahead of the the Monday night meeting.
Two residents of Platte Woods that KSHB 41 spoke with on Monday night said they feel the community is already pretty safe and feel that much won’t change in their neighborhood considering the concerns over county law enforcement’s budget.
“It’s not like they’re really being asked to do much more. They’re already taking our dispatch calls, they’re already here,” said Chris Cosgrove. “They didn’t get the increase that they wanted, well neither did I in my job. It’s just the way the economy is. I don’t think it’ll be any less safe.”
Gamboa took Zahnd’s statement that Platte County will be less safe under the new budget to Platte Woods resident Deborah Bland. She disagreed with his comments.
“I think that’s a political answer,” she said.
While discussions are underway about how Platte Woods will handle law enforcement, the Platte County budget is set.
Both Fricker and Zahnd have loud and clear messages for residents.
“The people in Platte County don’t have to worry about being safe. Because our law enforcement agencies are fully funded. They didn’t get everything they wanted, but they didn’t get a cut,” Fricker said “I think this whole thing is overblown. Frankly, don’t understand it.”
Zahnd disagrees.
“I want them to understand that we are going to do the absolute best for them, but justice isn’t free. Justice costs money. Police cost money. Sheriff’s deputies cost money. Prosecutors cost money. And I think the public wants us to invest in those things in Platte County,” Zahnd said.
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