VALDOSTA —
Lowndes County commissioners unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2013 budget Tuesday evening after a last-minute discovery led to a reduction in the amount of $165,000.
Lowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk said the entire amount was deducted from the sheriff’s department budget to offset the loss of revenue from the City of Valdosta.
“Unbeknownst to us, Sheriff Chris Prine renegotiated his jail fees with the City of Valdosta and reduced them from $43 to $35 per prisoner per day. That loss of $165,000 in revenue had to be reduced from his portion of the budget as we have to have a balanced budget; we have to live within the revenues we have coming into the county.”
Paulk said the county had several meetings with the sheriff and his staff concerning the budget, and “no one made us aware of this reduction in revenue in those meetings. We found out about it at the last minute last week, and had to adjust the numbers accordingly.”
The county has asked Prine to go back to the city and request a return to the original agreement in order to reinstate the department’s funding. The cost of housing inmates has not changed, so the shortfall can only come from other areas of the sheriff's budget.
“The sheriff was absolutely within his constitutional right to renegotiate the contract,” said Paulk. “The issue is in not telling the county that he was losing that revenue and not having a plan to make it up.”
According to Paulk, Prine said the city wanted the fees lowered in order to offset the costs of the city-county crime lab.
“According to the original agreement between the city and the county for the crime lab, we always had the understanding that the county would supply equipment and pay for our personnel, but not for the building. We offered to house the lab at the sheriff’s office and the city turned us down, saying they wanted a neutral location, but we never agreed to fund it,” Paulk said.
In other business at the county meeting, the commission voted unanimously on the following:
• Reappointed Mike McDowell to the Parks and Recreation Board.
• Reappointed Rick Griffis and Carla Gervin to the Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful board.
• Reappointed Kay Harris and two new board members, Barry Barr and Cheryl Copeland, to the Library Board.
• Appointed Jim Scruggs to the Board of Adjustments and Appeals.
• Approved all five contracts pending in one motion.
• Approved a motion to abandon a portion of Brinson Drive to prevent cut-through traffic from Pikes Pond to speed through the residential area. In response to questions from citizens, who were all in favor of the closing, County Engineer Mike Fletcher said there will be a ditch across the road, not a sign, so that traffic cannot bypass it and use it anyway.
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