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Sheriff's Office to gain 43 new vehicles
Three quarters of $2M HOST funding surplus to go to RCSO
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Items for the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office on the Dec. 10 meeting agenda, discussed at the Dec. 3 work session:

2013-305: Requisition - Sheriff's Office - Akins Ford Dodge Jeep Chrysler Government Sales - 2013 Capital (7) Dodge Charger Vehicles - $163,462.11

2013-306: Requisition - Sheriff's Office - Interceptor Public Safety Products - 2013 Capital Emergency Lights and equipment for (7) Dodge Charger Vehicles - $121,202.00

2013-307: Requisition - Sheriff's Office - Akins Ford Dodge Jeep Chrysler Government Sales - 2014 Capital (27) Dodge Charger Vehicles - $628,549.83

2013-308: Requisition - Sheriff's Office - Interceptor Public Safety Products - 2014 Capital Emergency Lights and equipment for (27) Dodge Charger Vehicles - $336,803.00

2013-309: Requisition - Sheriff's Office - Lenco Industries, Inc. - 2014 Capital Bear Cat Armored Vehicle - $286,379.00

2013-310: Requisition - Sheriff's Office - Hardy Chevrolet - 2014 Capital (8) Chevrolet Tahoes - $216,786.00

2013-311: Requisition - Sheriff's Office - Interceptor Public Safety Products - 2014 Capital Emergency Lights and equipment for (8) Chevrolet Tahoes - $55,837.00

 

The Rockdale County Sheriff's Office will receive three quarters of the $2 million surplus HOST sales tax funds approved for county capital projects to obtain new vehicles including 34 Dodge Chargers, eight Chevy Tahoes and an armored vehicle.

Finance Director Roselyn Miller said that after the BOC had approved setting aside the $2 million for capital projects, "We received about $8 million in requests from all the departments, including the Sheriff's Office. We were going to look to prioritize that list and either bring it to $2 million or lease purchase (the remaining $6 million), with the understanding that if we do lease purchase and whatever that debt service is, we would have to find a funding source to make that payment."

Rockdale County department directors made their pitch for critical needs in their departments, including fire hose for the Fire and Rescue department, breathing devices for firefighters, control system software to be used by the jail and Rockdale Water Resources, a common operating system for the county's hundreds of desktop computers, and more.

"I am concerned that we have $2 million to work with and one department is getting 75 percent of that," said Fire Chief Dan Morgan.

The majority of the board agreed to allocate about $1.5 million of that to Sheriff's Office vehicles. 

Chief Deputy Scott Freeman pointed out, after the meeting, that the RCSO has not been able to purchase new cars for a number of years. Out of 161 vehicles in the RCSO fleet, about 30 percent have more than 150,000 miles, he said. 

"As we presented in our 2014 budget request, Sheriff Levett did not request any additional personnel. Instead, the RCSO chose to prioritize our needs and make vehicles our number one priority for capital requests," said Freeman.

As far as reallocating the replaced RCSO vehicles, "It would be slim pickings when it comes to reallocation. Those vehicles would be the worst that we have," said Freeman.

The new vehicles will be as follows:

• 7 Chargers (marked) issued to the new Task Force Unit
• 1 Charger (marked) for K-9 in Task Force
• 20 Chargers specifically for Patrol
• 7 Chargers unmarked
• 3 Tahoes marked (decals)
• 5 Tahoes unmarked and will replace existing SUVs

The Board of Commissioners will vote on the vehicle requisitions and the second read of the 2014 county general fund budget at their Dec. 10, 10 a.m. meeting at 901 Main Street.

 

BOC December 10 2013 Agenda