Officials try to cut medical expenses

Mar. 29, 2010, Mansfield News Journal

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

Sandusky County Sheriff Kyle Overmyer was under pressure to cut his budget last year.

He didn’t want to lose any man power or services. Medical costs were another big ticket, though hard to control without violating inmates’ rights.

So Overmyer made a small change that added up to big bucks: He took away inmates’ basketballs.

Every time a prisoner got hurt playing ball, he said, “We’d take them down to our hospital, so we’d endure those costs, plus it cost us manpower hours.”

The decision seems to be a slam dunk. In 2009, the department’s medical costs were the lowest in at least seven years, and a third of what was spent in 2004.