BEDFORD – During the Lawrence County Council meeting, Tuesday night members of the Council approved fund requests for the Sheriff’s Department, Prosecutor’s office, Highway Department, and for the Clerk’s Office.
Sheriff Mike Branham requested two transfer of funds and requested additional funds for areas of need for the department. The first request was for $12,000 from the dispatcher’s salary account to be transferred into the utilities account.
Sheriff Branham shared that utilities have gone up 10 percent from the previous year and funds are needed to cover the additional costs. There has been a shortage of staff within dispatch and the unused salary from that opening can be used to help with utilities.
Sheriff Branham also requested $20,000 in additional funding for overtime for officers as many have worked tirelessly filling in additional shifts. A transfer of $49,000 had already been transferred previously to help with costs of overtime, but that money has already been depleted.
A request for $10,000 was also made for additional funds to repair police cruisers. Once is currently being repaired and two need repairs after separate deer collisions. The current balance for repairs sits at $259.43. The additional funding was approved.
Sheriff Branham’s last request was for $6,700 for communications services in police vehicles, The department is required to pay for the service for the cellphones and computers in their vehicles. Prices for current services have gone up with the current Verizon service, and Sheriff Branham is looking for alternatives or cheaper options from another service provider. All transfers and additionals were approved by the council.
Highway Superintendent David Holmes requested the regular end-of-the-month transfer for the Highway Department. He requested $50,000 for wages, $511.73 for truck driver overtime, $8,000 for Social Security, $16,000 for retirement and $18,000 funding for health insurance. The council unanimously approved the transfers.
Lawrence County Clerk Billie Tumey requested a transfer of $1,200, an additional amount of $1,200 and will use $1,200 of her salary to acquire three desks to be used in the Courthouse Plaza for the updated voter registration location. The desks in the basement of the Courthouse are unable to be moved from their current location. The transfer of funds and additional funding were approved.
Lastly, Deputy Prosecutor Sam Arp first requested partial reimbursement for money spent by the prosecutor’s office from the Pre-Trial Diversion fund into the Prosecutor Donation Fund of $910.89. Another request of $3,560.01 to be transferred to be used for Cellbrite lab equipment used in forensics for cellphones and computers and an additional $10,000 to cover bill sand expenses in the prosecutors office. All requests were approved.
The budget hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday night was delayed until Monday, November 1st at 9:00 a.m. due to technical issues with printing the necessary paperwork.
