Politics & Government
Proposed Budget Presented to Forsyth, Sheriff Wants Cuts
Less than 60 days after being defeated in the Republican Primary, Sheriff Ted Paxton has requested a $5 million budget reduction for operation of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.
Chief Financial Officer David Gruen gave citizens and commissioners a presentation of the $89.6 million proposed budget for 2013 at last night's Forsyth County Board of Commissioners meeting.
The new spending plan is balanced with $89,600,134 in anticipated revenue and expenditures, a $3.2 million reduction from the 2012 adopted budget of $92,448,864. That figure, however, does not include $6.9 million in insurance premiums, $1.9 million in internal service funds and $1.25 million in grant funds that have been moved to the general fund.
The good news for county employees is it assumes an increase to 4 percent in the employer match to 401k plans and 3 percent increase in salary.
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But the news was not as good for whoever takes command of the Sheriff's Office. Former Sheriff's Office Lt. Duane Piper faces write-in candidate Lt. Col. DT Smith in the November election. The winner will have about $5 million less in his budget than he might have expected, courtesy of outgoing Sheriff Ted Paxton.
Paxton has asked commissioners to reduce the sheriff's office budget by $5,014,000 in 2013. In an e-mail sent to Gruen dated Sept. 7, Paxton wrote:
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"After considering the recent election results, it is my recommendation and desire that the 2013 budget for the Sheriff’s Office be reduced by $5,014,000.00. The voters of the county have voted for a candidate who campaigned on the promise of cutting the Sheriff’s Office budget by $5,000,000.00. I have heard the voters. I obviously am not privy to his plan, however he must have a plan since he has quoted an exact dollar amount on several different occasions."
The Board of Commissioners decided to put the money aside in a special line item account exclusively for the sheriff's office. If the incoming sheriff decides the money is essential to his operation, he will have to come before the Board of Commissioners and request it. Commissioners are expected to adopt the budget during the meeting of Oct. 18.
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