Madison County Commissioners passed a new budget and more than half is going to the sheriff’s office.
Although, the majority of the funds are going to the sheriff’s office, the department isn’t getting all the additional funds it requested.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office requested an additional $3.8 million for the next fiscal year. Commissioners did not approve that full amount but enough to help deputies continue to effectively serve the community.
“They kind of met us somewhere in between, not really, really completely in between but at the end of the day doing this for 16 years I’m excited that they were able to help in certain areas,” explained Sheriff Blake Dorning.
Of the $58 million Madison County general fund budget for fiscal year 2019, $33 million of that is going to the sheriff’s office.
“We’ll have a $13.162 million sheriff’s enforcement budget and $17,909,000 jail budget. This year also has about a $1.163 million and discretionary fund for the FBI fingerprint and the pistol permits,” expressed Dale Strong, Madison County Commission Chairman.
County Commissioners approved the Sheriff’s request to hire 10 more deputies, each deputy costing about $56,000.
“This is a very important step in being able to help our dispatchers and allowing us to continue to locate, hire and retain the good dispatchers we have,” continued Dorning.
Also included in the budget is a 2.5% cost of living raise for every Madison County employee, including dispatch workers.
“This is a very important step in being able to help our dispatchers and allowing us to continue to locate, hire and retain the good dispatchers we have,” Dorning said.
The sheriff’s office got denied an additional $2 million request for the jail, as its population continues to grow.
The County will be letting go 11 employees to keep the budget balanced but did not say whether the cuts were directly related to the hiring of new deputies.
