CLEVELAND – The White County Commission is not only supporting the White County Sheriff’s Office verbally, but also budgetarily.
On Monday, the commission voted spending nearly $324,000 to purchase five SUVS and a pickup truck, along with equipment for those vehicles. That figure also includes 24 laptop computers (one for every patrol vehicle) and two ballistic shield panels for security purposes at the White County Courthouse.
“I just quickly ran my calculator, we just approved funding the sheriff’s department expense items totaling $323,723 so I’m going to brag on the county, as far as the county, we want to make it know we support out sheriff’s department,” said Commission Chairman Travis Turner.
The purchases will come from the county’s 1-cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.
Sheriff-elect Rick Kelley, who presented the requests to the commission on behalf of Sheriff Neal Walden, also requested additional funding for an information technology position for the sheriff’s office, but the commissioners said they wanted to see they can utilize current county IT personnel to fill that need.
