Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich gave county commissioners a $372,631 listof equipment and software Tuesday that he'd like to buy with countyreserves.
Commissioners took no action, but agreed to discuss the requestfurther.
Most of the expense would be covered by $337,000 Knezovich saidhe saved last year. He said commissioners agreed he could have themoney, but the two who approved this year's budget - Mark Richardand Todd Mielke - had different recollections.
"You said, 'As long as the money is there and it pencils out,you've got it,'" Knezovich said.
Richard said he couldn't remember such a commitment, and calledfor Knezovich to produce a record of that conversation.
"I'm a man of my word," Richard said. "I will follow my word."
Still, he pleaded with Knezovich to "do some soul searching" andreduce his list to officer-safety essentials to "help keep us afloatfor the next two or three years" until the economy recovers.
Mielke said he "could probably get to the point of looking at"the top priorities on the sheriff's list.
Tuesday's exchange echoed one in October. On both occasions,Knezovich argued that he is entitled to keep the portion of lastyear's budget that he didn't spend.
He said he "saved" the money so it could be put to better use oncapital expenditures in this year's budget.
Other departments also saved money and they weren't allowed tokeep it, commissioners responded in October and Tuesday.
Unspent money from all departments was rolled into the county'sgeneral fund reserves, which commissioners try to keep at 10 percentof the budget. Then, in December, commissioners agreed to supplementseveral criminal justice programs by drawing reserves down to anestimated 8.8 percent.
The sheriff's office received $726,724 of that $1.5 millionallocation, to prevent the layoff of eight deputies.
The capital expenditures Knezovich proposed Tuesday include$140,000 for two software systems, $90,200 for 88 Tasers and stun-gun supplies, $37,000 for "marketing and public education" and$24,000 for 60 tire-flattening spike sticks.
Also: $21,116 for bullet-proof vests, $18,898 for in-car traffic-ticket printers, $16,907 for beanbag shotguns and ammunition,$12,960 for wireless Internet-access cards, $6,000 for dog cages and$5,550 for rifle-mounted lights.
No comments:
Post a Comment