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Finance Committee considers sheriff's budget
The Cocke County Finance Committee meeting Tuesday reviewed the Sheriff's Department budget. Sheriff Armando Fontes expressed his appreciation for it's support during a financially challenging year. Money in the budget had to be moved from several line items to provide funding for medical bills in excess of $500,000 this fiscal year. Fontes said the proposed budget has "the bare necessities" but still is operational. Finance Manager Anne Bryant-Hurst said "we had to use every scrap of fund balance to balance the budget.We've had to beg, borrow and steal from so many line items to make it work." Last year's budget had $170,000 for medical costs but is expected to end the year showing total expenditures of $541,000. Commissioner Mitch Fine asked why inmates are not outfitted with ankle bracelets and sent home. In response the sheriff said such a move would require a court order, and an agency would have to provide the service. He said only certain inmates would qualify for such a plan.Fontes said most counties have stopped the practice because of problems and the cost. Commissioner Love Henderson said at one time Jefferson County had such a program which made money for the county and allowed the inmate to go to work. Sheriff Fontes did say he is trying to insure that all inmates who qualify for TennCare are signed up for that service. He said inmates are required to pay a fee for medical and dental services. The county recently received a check from the state for $200,000 in payment for board bills. The sheriff said a jailer at one time was responsible for filing the costs with the state but it wasn't done. Now he has hired a trained clerk for the position. In other areas of the budget; The sheriff said the school system reimburses about 75 percent of the costs associated with the school resource officers. The Litter Collection program has a budget of nearly $101,000, up from $79,000 last year. However most of that money comes fro0m a state grant. Fontes recently was given permission to purchase a second litter pickup van, with $23,000 of the cost coming from drug forfeiture revenues.
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Return to Today's News Stories - Front PageThursday, April 29, 2021
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