Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker detailed his department's most recent efforts to deal with 2009 budget shortfalls at the Board of County Commissioners regular meeting on October 13th. Beicker spoke about his cost cutting efforts after the Commissioners requested that the Sheriff make a presentation at the public meeting as part of the 2010 budget reviews.
Beicker said as part of the cost cutting measures his deputies would no longer be offering patrol services for funeral escorts or civil standbys. Beicker said the problem with eliminating civil standbys is that they are typically considered a prevention measure against domestic violence. Beicker said deputies also will not be responding to take reports on 'cold' misdemeanor crimes. Beicker says cold case reports such as vandalism or thefts will have to be made by citizens over the counter at the Sheriff's office. Beicker said, "We hope to see some savings there, but at what cost to our citizens?"
District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden added that the Sheriff's budget is one of the biggest and most onerous budgets for 2010. He said oftentimes the board reviews the budgets in such detail the message of what is happening because of the economic downturn goes unnoticed by the general public. Norden said "We anguish over these discussions".
District 2 Commissioner Larry Lasha said public safety is at the heart of the issue. Lasha said when thing get out of control people call those in uniform. Lasha said, "Doing more with less becomes a real problem on the safety side".
To address a lingering problem with a 2008 shortfall in the Sheriff's fund, the commissioners voted to transfer $281,000 from a self-insurance cash reserve fund to cover the revenue shortfall from a year ago. That way, any numbers discussed from now on in attempts to balance revenues and expenses will deal only with 2009 figures.
The commissioners approved a bid award of $492,540 to purchase four snow-plow trucks from MHC Kenworth and Layton Truck and Equipment. $200,000 of the purchase price came from an energy impact grant the county's Road and Bridge Department secured this past summer. By spending some additional dollars from Road and Bridge reserves the county was able to secure four trucks instead of three thus utilizing all of the available grant dollars as well. The Road and Bridge maintenance department said getting the fourth new truck will also reduce costs of trying to maintain old equipment.
District 2 Commissioner Larry Lasha used the occasion of the regular meeting to announce to the public that his current term in office would be his last. Lasha said he will miss the commissioners work a lot after 2010 but that because of personal and family issues he and his wife decided it was the best decision for his not to seek a third term.
In other business last week the Board of Commissioners:
Beicker said as part of the cost cutting measures his deputies would no longer be offering patrol services for funeral escorts or civil standbys. Beicker said the problem with eliminating civil standbys is that they are typically considered a prevention measure against domestic violence. Beicker said deputies also will not be responding to take reports on 'cold' misdemeanor crimes. Beicker says cold case reports such as vandalism or thefts will have to be made by citizens over the counter at the Sheriff's office. Beicker said, "We hope to see some savings there, but at what cost to our citizens?"
District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden added that the Sheriff's budget is one of the biggest and most onerous budgets for 2010. He said oftentimes the board reviews the budgets in such detail the message of what is happening because of the economic downturn goes unnoticed by the general public. Norden said "We anguish over these discussions".
District 2 Commissioner Larry Lasha said public safety is at the heart of the issue. Lasha said when thing get out of control people call those in uniform. Lasha said, "Doing more with less becomes a real problem on the safety side".
To address a lingering problem with a 2008 shortfall in the Sheriff's fund, the commissioners voted to transfer $281,000 from a self-insurance cash reserve fund to cover the revenue shortfall from a year ago. That way, any numbers discussed from now on in attempts to balance revenues and expenses will deal only with 2009 figures.
The commissioners approved a bid award of $492,540 to purchase four snow-plow trucks from MHC Kenworth and Layton Truck and Equipment. $200,000 of the purchase price came from an energy impact grant the county's Road and Bridge Department secured this past summer. By spending some additional dollars from Road and Bridge reserves the county was able to secure four trucks instead of three thus utilizing all of the available grant dollars as well. The Road and Bridge maintenance department said getting the fourth new truck will also reduce costs of trying to maintain old equipment.
District 2 Commissioner Larry Lasha used the occasion of the regular meeting to announce to the public that his current term in office would be his last. Lasha said he will miss the commissioners work a lot after 2010 but that because of personal and family issues he and his wife decided it was the best decision for his not to seek a third term.
In other business last week the Board of Commissioners:
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Approved a proposal for audit services from Johnson, Holscher and Company for $61,500 over three years. The proposal came in $43,000 lower than the only other proposal from Bondi & Company;
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Approved an addendum to the office lease for Fremont County GIS Authority adding a $500 monthly charge to the GIS lease in exchange for county's I-T services.