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| In terms of theater, the dialogue is merely the strophe and antistrophe of the portent of what is to come |
Controversy
that arose over a proposal to spend $85,000 in taxpayer funds to
re-wire and upgrade circuit breakers at the McLennan County Jail was
needless.
Sheriff
Larry Lynch has the money to do the job. It's in the jail commissary
fund, a cumulative sum over which he has sole custody.
According
to a monthly audit conducted by County Auditor Stan Chambers, the
fund finished fiscal year 2011 with an “increase” in proceeds of
$40,715 – a term that in the private sector would be called a
“profit.”
Proceeds
are received from a caterer who handles the procurement of items for
sale. That contractor pays a commission to the Sheriff's Office,
which forwards the money to the Auditor to be placed in a special
separate account.
In
2011, those commissions totaled $187,815. Expenditures were $147,100.
As of day one of fiscal year 2012, there was a balance of $278,715 in
the Jail Commissary Fund, according to Mr. Chambers.
“When
they buy something, they forward the invoice to my office for
payment,” Mr. Chambers explained. “It's just like any other
transaction.”
In
fact, that's how, over the years, the microwave ovens were acquired.
It's
all perfectly legal, since administrative rules of the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards and state laws allow funds to be spent
on equipment or upgrades that would promote the welfare of the
inmates – items such as law books, Bibles, mental health, alcohol
or drug abuse counseling, games and equipment.
You
can't spend the money on salaries of Sheriff's Officers, remodeling
the building, or police equipment such as mace and body armor.
Numerous
Attorney General opinions and case law have held that it's okay to
put money from sales of various “sundries” such as phone cards
into the Jail Commissiary Fund – and not the General Fund.
Commissioner Joe Mashek suggested paying for the re-wiring job out of the fund during budget talks, something that, it turns out, is totally correct, if the Court chooses to do so.
yawn, enough with the old news....
ReplyDeleteIf you really want to talk about something involving the county, why don't you go after something like how there are so many exempt employees in mclennan county that get to come and go as they please and yet still charge the tax payers for 40 hours of work each week (so long as you are there for a few hours out of the day, exempt employees simply put W's down for worked, meaning any leave isn't kept track of)..... And hey, while you are at it, maybe it's time the county start saving money by getting those eligible for retirement out the door since most of them are just collecting a paycheck while refusing to learn anything new..........