The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department has overspent its budget. This, according to Sheriff Billy Sollie, is largely due to rising fuel costs.
The department overspent its supplies budget, which includes fuel and other automotive costs, as well as its telephone budget and its drug and medicine budget for the county jail said Lauderdale County Administrator Mike Sumrall. At a meeting Monday, the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors awarded another $200,000 to fund the department for the remainder of the year.
Sumrall said the county as a whole has overspent its fuel budget by $300,000 this year. He said the road and bridge and sanitation budgets are also "in the red."
"The price of fuel, not the consumption," Sollie said, is a primary cause for the department's budget problems. The high cost of oil has impacted not only the cost of fuel, but the cost of other petroleum based products used by the Sheriff's department, such as tires, anti-freeze, and lubricants, as well.
"(Fuel) is a major factor in the law enforcement side of the budget being short," Sollie said.
Another factor, he added, is apparent over-billiing on Sheriff's department cell phones. The department began using cell phones instead of pagers this year due to poor radio communication ability, and, Sollie said, the department has been in talks with the service provider over what they believe is too high a bill.
They have already received some credits for over-billing, Sollie said.
Sollie said the phones are necessary for adequate communication. "Dispatch is able to communicate in more places than with the walkie-talkies," he said.
Sollie also said that he believes new deputies in the department are sorely underpaid, earning only about $22,000 a year with a four-year degree.
Some citizens at the board of supervisors meeting Monday complained that the Sheriff's department was overspending. Sollie responded that numerous other budgets in the county were also "in the red," largely because of fuel costs.
Supervisors Wayman Newell (District 2) and Board President Ray Boswell (District 5) also expressed concerns at the amount spent by the Sheriff's department, suggesting that some cars possibly be parked and that the department's spending be more closely looked into.
Craig Hitt, District 3 supervisor, placed blame on the economy rather than the running of any of the departments that are having budget concerns, saying "The costs are increasing... Things that we don't have any control over, we have to provide as a county."
"If you don't increase the income and you increase the amount you're spending on salaries," Sollie said, "other line items hurt. And the employees of the county deserve a cost of living raise by the board of supervisors."
Meeting Minutes
Meeting: Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors. July 21, 2008
What Happened:
• The board approved a $22,500 contribution to the local Imaging Campaign for advertising. This controversial funding was denied in a previous board meeting, and three members of the public came before the board to speak against the contribution. The motion was passed 3-2, with supervisors Hank Florey (Dist. 1), Craig Hitt (Dist. 3) and Joe Norwood (Dist. 4) voting yes, and supervisors Wayman Newell (Dist. 2) and Ray Boswell (Dist. 5) voting no.
• County taxpayers will now be able to pay their taxes via credit card. The board approved the request to allow the tax collector's office to implement Point and Pay Credit Card Service unanimously. The service comes at no cost to the county, but those taxpayers who choose to pay with credit cards will be charged a fee by their credit card company.
• John Harris, the Meridian city councilman for Ward 5, appeared before the board during public comments to talk about a community cemetery clean-up program. Harris was trying to enlist help for the clean-up of an overgrown cemetery on 10th Avenue, which reportedly contains veterans' graves. The clean-up will take place Aug. 2.
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