Meigs County SO - food for thought

[wa8pyr]

A thought-provoking couple of paragraphs from today's "Columbus Dispatch" article on tight budgets at sheriff's offices:

In Meigs County, some criminal investigations have languished because Sheriff Robert E. Beegle no longer employs detectives. He operates a jail and runs his office in Pomeroy along the Ohio River on a $600,000 budget.

"They always say, 'Strike while the iron is hot,' " Beegle said. "We don't really have the manpower, so when we have a case, they don't get to follow up on it right away."

Meigs County has barely enough money to run the jail, has very few deputies, and the sheriff himself responds to calls when needed. Let's assume they used grant money to buy the necessary radios, but with a budget of only $600k per year (most of which goes to salaries and running the jail), where are they getting the $20+ per radio per month to operate on MARCS???? Assuming 25 radios minimum, it works out to at least $6000 per year in MARCS charges, which is a pretty significant part of that $600k annual budget.

Food for thought...

 

[medic611]

They just enacted a 911 system last year and bought into MARCS for sheriff, EMS. Obviously the entire county had to plan for the user fees associated with using the state system. I recall seeing a paper out there lowering the monthly fee down to $9-10 a month for voice only service, that might only include surrounding counties and not statewide coverage.

 

[jerk]

A thought-provoking couple of paragraphs from today's "Columbus Dispatch" article on tight budgets at sheriff's offices:
... and the sheriff himself responds to calls when needed. ...

Isn't that his job!
Isn't that why you run and get elected...
No wonder they got troubles. IMHO

Around here I see the sheriff responding on many calls.

 

[wv8mat]

they also have no leavy money or anything like that, 911 was forced apon meigs co they still had Meigs EMS taking calls on a req 7 digit number and dispatching EMS and Fire, Meigs Sherr offc was on a 7 digit number and only disp them selves, pomeroy pd had a 7 digit number and middleport pd had a 7 digit number. there 911 center is ran off ems money( whos hurting anyways for money) all the marcs radios were either given to them or they got with state money. i have never seen a county like that one. not to be mean or rude about that either, they are just different. now the 911 lines come to ems and they get transfered to who ever they need.

 

[cellison1460]

Alot of sheriffs like the idea of MARCS because they aren't responsible for the equipment. It is alot cheaper for them to pay for MARCS service than to keep and maintain their own equipment.