|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
October 18, 2005Work crews may get cut for drug forceBudget can't handle both expendituresByRecord-Eagle staff writer SUTTONS BAY - The price for Leelanau County's continued participation in a regional anti-drug task force may include scaling back a program that puts criminal offenders to work. The budget county board members adopted last week spared funding for a sheriff's deputy position dedicated to the Traverse Narcotics Team, a slot that Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf fought to protect. But commissioners left Oltersdorf to decide how and where to cut $40,000 during the next fiscal year. Oltersdorf is considering decreasing the department's community work program and reducing the number of hours the deputy in charge spends supervising work crews. He said he won't eliminate the program that began in 1997. "We want to keep it going, so if we shut it down, it will be gone for good," he said. "We're just going to modify things a bit." Judges have the option of assigning nonviolent offenders to the community work program rather than sentencing them to jail. Participants pay a $10 fee per day and a sheriff's deputy supervises the crew as they provide labor for the county and other governmental units. 86th District Court Judge John Foresman said the work program is a valuable sentencing option he'd like to see expanded rather than reduced, but he acknowledged budget challenges. "It would be sad if he had to do that," he said. "It's one of the avenues that I look for." The program had 82 participants in 2004 and generated $5,480 in fees for the county. The initial 2006 budget for the community work program earmarks $74,548, and Oltersdorf said he plans to bring an adjustment to the county board before the new fiscal year begins Jan. 1. "We want to make it work," he said.
|
|
