"We're approaching the point where we become ineffective when it comes to providing services in emergencies," Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth said.

That's what the Ingham County Sheriff said as he began his presentation to the board of commissioner's Law Enforcement Committee Thursday.

"We've gone through the meat and the fat, we're now cutting into the bone," he said.

The Sheriff's Department cut about a million dollars from their budget last year. This year, the board is asking for more than $900,000 in cuts.

"I'm saddened by the course of events last year," Commissioner Randy Schafer said. "They lost the paramedics units and the DARE officers."

But the board said they have no choice. They're facing a $4 million deficit for 2009.

"2010 is going to be worse than what we're facing now," Commissioner Debbie De Leon said. "There's no end in sight. I don't know where we're going to go. At what point do we say, we have to cut services?"

It's the townships that rely on those services, who are the most concerned.

"We use the sheriff's department," Randy Maiville said. "We rely on them solely for law enforcement."

Maiville is the Supervisor of Onondaga Township. He said even in tough economic times, it's the county's job to provide police protection.

"Safety is assigned to the Sheriff's Department and ultimately the county," Maiville said.

Commissioner Debbie De Leon said it might be time for the township's to step up.

"We would like to see some township's step up and help maintain some of the services they've been receiving," De Leon said. "Otherwise we won't have any choice but to cut road patrol."

Other departments will present their proposals to the board in the next few months.