Madison County Sheriff sues county over $25 million budget request

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. –“I am filing a suit against Madison County,” said Madison County Sheriff John Mehr.

This comes after Madison County Commissioners denied Sheriff John Mehr his $25 million budget request and only approved $22.2 million.

“If we do not receive the adequate funding we need, then it gives us the right to go and file suit against the county,” Sheriff Mehr said.

County Commission Chairman Gary Deaton said the county has done all they can do for the sheriff’s department.

“I was disappointed that the sheriff did this. I was hoping that there was another way we could work through this, but evidently he didn’t think there was,” Deaton said.

Sheriff Mehr said he needs the full $25 million for recruitment, retention and an extensive amount of resources.

“Everyone is paying above our pay, and we’re losing the most qualified officers. There are lots more duties that you don’t realize we do. It’s unbelievable,” Sheriff Mehr said.

He also said the funding is necessary for the sheriff’s office to operate.

“The current funding that we received, it will not be sufficient. We barely made it through this last year,” said Sheriff Mehr.

“Did he have enough? I don’t know, but we did all we could do. We gave him all we could give him,” Deaton said. “We can’t give a department a 17 percent  increase in one year. It’s just, we can’t do that without a tax increase. He’s suing the taxpayers, the ones who elected him, if he receives this amount of dollars.”

Sheriff Mehr decided not to comment on the legal actions taken against the county at the time.