Commissioners look at options before saying yes, no to C.O.P.S. Grant

During the upcoming weeks, the Bourbon County Commissioners will have to decide whether to accept a grant to partially fund the salary of one additional sheriff's deputy.

On Tuesday, commissioners met with Bourbon County Sheriff Bill Martin and had a conference call with Senior Grant Writing Manager Samantha Dorm of Praetorian Digital in Pennsylvania to discuss their options.

On Sept. 28, Martin announced the county has been awarded a $125,000 U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (C.O.P.S.) grant.

In addition to the $53,107 match, the county would also be responsible for providing an equipped vehicle, uniforms and guns for the deputy. The additional one-time costs would be about $45,000, which includes a vehicle, Martin said.

The grant will pay 75 percent of the deputy's salary and benefits for three years. The county would be required to pay 25 percent of the salary and benefits during the three years the grant is in place. During the fourth year, the county will be required to pay 100 percent of the salary and at the fifth year, the county has the option whether to retain the deputy. During the grant period, the county must maintain the same number of deputies as it currently employs.

While the commissioners were working on the 2016 budget, Martin submitted a request for three additional deputies, with a portion of one of those deputies' salaries being paid with the C.O.P.S. grant.

"At the time of the budgeting, we didn't have information that we was awarded this grant," Martin said. "Now it's starting to roll and now there are some decisions that need to be made in regards to this because during the budget (process) there was a comment made there was going to be a hiring freeze and we weren't going to hire because of the financial issues that the county was facing."

During the budget work sessions, commissioners discovered the employee benefits fund is expected to be short of funds by the end of the year. To compensate for that shortage, department heads were asked to reduce what remains of their 2015 budgets. Those who agreed were given half of that amount back in the 2016 budget.

"There are some things we need to look into -- if you want to accept this award, or if you want to turn it down, whatever you want to do," Martin said.

He reminded the commissioners they will need to consider the additional expenses that come with an additional deputy.

The additional deputy would be a "road officer," not tied to a specific program. Dorm said the goal with providing the grant is to give the sheriff's office the "opportunity to be more proactive in the community," Dorm said.

"Our calls for service have gone up 27 percent. Our response times have increased, so putting another deputy out there in the street can help with those calls for service," Martin said.

Dorm said the grant award has been backdated to Sept. 1 because there was a delay in getting the grant notification sent out. The county has 90 days from the date of the letter (Oct. 1) to accept or decline the award.