CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office got an OK from the county finance committee Wednesday to use $34,000 budgeted for other expenditures to buy gasoline.
The money includes $29,000 from utilities and $5,000 from the food budget for the Corrections Division, which is separate from the sheriff’s department.
The committee did not approve a request for transfers totaling $86,545 to pay for gasoline purchased in June, 2007 and paid for in the current 2008 budget.
When Chairman Ed Elkins asked for a motion to recommend that request to the full commission, all he got was silence from the members.
Sheriff’s department budget requests took up most of the meeting. Items approved by the committee go to the full Bradley County Commission for a final vote.
The panel agree to transfer $4,500 budgeted for inmate clothing to the sheriff’s communications budget. Capt. Jim Hodgson said the money would pay for extra cell phones the department bought but has canceled because of the cost.
The committee also OK’d moving $1,000 from the Corrections Division’s utility budget for towing costs.
But members refused to shift $10,000 to buy garden and mowing equipment for the sheriff’s work program.
“Are you kidding me?” Commissioner Jim Smith asked Capt. Hodgson.
Capt. Gabe Thomas said the idea is to put more inmates to work for the community’s taxpayers, including mowing church yards and overgrown cemeteries and putting in a 2-acre community garden at the Tri-State Exhibition Center.
Capt. Thomas said the garden could be used to feed inmates and reduce costs, but commissioners wondered whether supervising inmates during gardening would cost more than buying produce from the local farmers market.
Mr. Elkins noted the commission approved Sheriff Tim Gobble’s 2006 request for $83,000 to buy bulletproof vests after being assured that half the cost would be reimbursed from a federal grant.
The grant arrived in February but was on half what was expected, Mr. Elkins said.
“To say the least, I am highly disappointed,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS
Budget transfers from Sheriff’s Office and Corrections Division:
$29,000 from sheriff’s utilities to gasoline
$5,00o from corrections food for gasoline
$4,500 from inmate clothing for cell phones
$1,000 from corrections utilities for towing
Source: Bradley Finance Committee
Randall Higgins covers news in Cleveland, Tenn., for the Times Free Press. He started work with the Chattanooga Times in 1977 and joined the staff of the Chattanooga Times Free Press when the Free Press and Times merged in 1999. Randall has covered Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia and Alabama. He now covers Cleveland and Bradley County and the neighboring region. Randall is a Cleveland native. He has bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Technological University. His awards ...
