Sheriff Mike Yeager believes the morale and cohesiveness of his force could be improved if the county would approve a $800,000 vehicle take-home program.

This is just one of the revelations Yeager discussed with the Coweta County Board of Commissioners during Tuesday afternoon's budget talks. Speaking for nearly an hour, Yeager told the board the county's explosive growth is making it harder to keep officers under the county's current pay standards.

Citing a recently conducted survey, Yeager said the county ranks ninth out of 10 sheriffs' department in deputy pay. During earlier budget discussions, Yeager had asked for 15 additional personnel, but the staff recommended hiring only three.

If he can't hire any additional people, Yeager favors adding incentives, such as the vehicle take-home plan, to keep his current personnel happy.

"We need to help those that we have," Yeager said.

As nearby sheriff's offices increase their pay for beginning deputies, the sheriff said it's harder to keep good officers in the county. Instead of serving as a training ground, Yeager would like to see his deputies offered incentives to keep them in the county.

The sheriff said he talked to different municipalities who have a vehicle take-home policy,and all said the morale of the officers has jumped. Not only does morale jump, but Yeager said a car assigned to a specific deputy makes it easier for the department to track any abuse of cars.

Currently, two deputies are assigned to a car, which can make it difficult to determine who may have abused the vehicle, he said.

"The take-home policy also increases our visibility on the street," Yeager said.

The sheriff also pointed out that he has come under budget the last six years and suggested the county use some of its $18 million reserve fund to help fund some of the critical budget needs that are occurring because of the huge growth rate in the last decade.

"We can't police like (former sheriff) Lamar Potts anymore," he said.

County Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter agreed the county was growing fast, but said the sheriff's budget was growing. Since 1993, the sheriff's portion of the general fund budget has increased from $3.9 million to $6.54 million this year.

Hunter also added the county can't use the reserve funds because those are used to fund next year's budget and prevent the county from having to borrow money to cover its expenses.

While Yeager did not advocate increasing taxes, some of the residents at the public hearing did. Long-time Newnan resident Norma Haynes said she was alarmed the commission would not hire as many deputies as the sheriff wanted and urged the county to find the money.

Commission Chairman Jim McGuffey said law enforcement was a key part of the county's services and wondered if the vehicle take-home policy could be phased in over a longer period of time than just buying 32 cars all at once.

Hunter agreed that the county needed to make sure that citizens were adequately protected, but maintained the county is already doing that.

"We're paying as much per capita for law enforcement as anybody in the state," he said.