Friday, December 12, 2003
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Friday, December 12, 2003 |
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Sheriff will settle for two more employees By JOHN THOMPSON It’s truly not the Christmas season in Coweta County unless Sheriff Mike Yeager is asking the County Commission for an early Christmas present. During Tuesday morning’s public hearing on the budget, the sheriff came, hat in hand, with his personnel requests for this year. In earlier budget negotiations, the sheriff had asked for six new deputies, but the county’s staff said this year’s tight budget would not support that many new employees. The county is looking at a $36.3 million general fund budget, with the sheriff’s department getting $10.1 million of the funds. Yeager said he understood the hard economic times, but wondered if the county couldn’t crunch the numbers a little tighter and find room for two people. The sheriff said he had a part-time clerical position that he would like to see made full-time, and also he wanted to add an evidence custodian. “They’re doing things totally different at the state crime lab now. We’re responsible for delivering and picking up our evidence, and our caseload has increased,” he said. In 1999, the department responded to just over 33,000 calls, but this year the total is likely to top 42,000, he said. “We’re also trying to get our national accreditation and this would help,” he said. The commissioners said they would consider Yeager’s request, and asked county administrator Theron Gay to see if funding could be found. The county will vote on its final 2004 budget Jan. 6.
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