NORWICH – Instead of a far greater amount originally requested, Chenango County Sheriff Ernest Cutting was approved to transfer $91,000 from his budget for part–timers to an over–time line item in order to compensate corrections officers for over time accrued this year.

An initial request of $165,000 was pared back. County lawmakers agreed to the amount at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Monday. The 2010 overtime budget increased from $225,000 for the year to $316,000. Overtime for corrections officers was $215,000 last year.

Appropriating the additional amount didn’t sit well with at least one county legislator. Preston Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan compared the county’s new Public Safety Facility on Upper Ravine Road in the Town of Norwich with the former jail in the City of Norwich, saying then Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren regularly requested more over time funds for the same reasons.

“We went from 28 officers at the old jail to 63 officers at the new jail and we still need to pay more in over–time? We were always told we were short handed before, but we are shorthanded now when there are more officers? Overtime has doubled along with our staff,” he said. “This concerns me.”