The sheriff's budget (and the county clerk, too, for that matter) has always had to be approved by another entity. For years, the sheriff's office budget was approved by the Chief Circuit Court Judge (I think, maybe District Court). Then, it shifted over to Fiscal Court. Under Metro government, that responsibility shifted to the Metro Council, and the Sheriff has a line item in the budget. I don't know how much attention they pay now to the details of his budget, they used to go over it with a fine