Madison County Sheriff’s Office negotiates upcoming budget
MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — The Madison County Sheriff’s Office and Madison County Commisison are in their final budget negotiations for the upcoming fiscal year, presenting a different tone this year than in the past when the two were involved in a lawsuit.
“They’re going alright. We go back and forth, but we’ve looked at everything,” said Madison County Sheriff John Mehr.
“I think it’s been fine this year,” said budget committee chair Doug Stephenson. “We haven’t had really any misunderstanding or anything like that. We just have to work within the confines of the money we have.”
The sheriff’s office is requesting a $25.3 million budget. The county commission is hoping to get that number down to $24.1 million. That’s $500,000 more than they gave the sheriff’s office last year.
One of the points of negotiation is the cost of furnishing the new jail.
“We would have liked them in probably two or three months ago honestly,” Stephenson said. “But it’s something we can work with right now to get it taken care of.”
According to the budget committee, that money will come out of the capital fund, for purchases with use longer than three years.
“Chief Rudder now says he understands what they want, so we’re going to submit everything they want to them for that,” Sheriff Mehr said.
Sheriff Mehr said they will meet with Madison County Finance Director Karen Bell this week.
They also discussed the cost of school resource officers. Mehr says the school system has requested fewer than in years past, but he hasn’t gotten a hard number.
“Our feelings is the safety and security of the students because times have changed,” Mehr said.
And Doug Stephenson says he hopes he’ll get numbers on both of those requests before the June 30 budget deadline.
“What it’s doing is challenging us financially on how to maneuver and get that taken care of,” Stephenson said.
Stephenson also says they’ll have one more meeting on Tuesday afternoon, then they’ll submit the public notice for the budget. By the end of June, it should be approved.
The Jackson-Madison County School System is set to discuss SRO budgeting in their next meeting.
For more local news, click here.
