CUMMING - Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton said Wednesday he is hopeful the county commission can find a way to give him the money he needs to run his department the rest of the year without having to resort to laying off deputies.
Paxton raised the possibility of having to lay off 88 deputies during a county commission meeting Tuesday.
Paxton told Georgia News Network Wednesday he is confident the commission will do nothing to jeopardize public safety.
He says constrained budgets from previous years, inflation, required fees such as payments to workman's compensation, and increases in uncontrollable costs such as gasoline and equipment have run down his $32 million budget.
The county's purse strings are tight. Departments have requested $93 million to operate next year. Projected income is at about $80 million.
Paxton's office has 207 deputies.
Board Chairman Charles Laughinghouse said of the budget picture: "It comes down to a tough decision. If revenue does not match expenses, then you either raise revenue or cut expenses or maybe something in between."
Laughinghouse said after the meeting that Paxton's plea and warning about layoffs was the first he had heard about deep financial troubles at the Sheriff's Office.
An outside firm is auditing the county, and Laughinghouse said he would wait for those hard figures before making any decisions. After hearing Paxton's plea, he asked for the same information from a county finance officer from the Sheriff's Office.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
Wednesday
October 9th, 2024
6:17PM
