Sheriff in Sweet Home, Ala, wants to use National Guard.

[dgibby]

According to CNN, Sheriff Mike Hale of Jefferson County, Ala., doesn't have enough money to properly protect the citizens, so he's contemplating requesting help from the National Guard.

The sheriff's budget will run out by Oct, unless funding is found to pay his deputies, so unless the county can find the money necessary, he's prepared to request help from the National Guard to augment his force.


On edit: The sheriff's budget was cut by the county by several million dollars. He is seeking more funding to pay his deputies. States he has gotten some federal money, but is not allowed to use it for salaries.

[tularetom]

1. His budget will run out by October???

And he couldn't see this coming when the budget was adopted two months ago?

He got 3 months worth of money to run a sheriff dept. for 12 months. How much did he request?

There's obviously a lot more to this story than your post reveals, but this appears to be very poor management on the sheriff's part.

Most likely aggravated by an aversion to raising taxes on the part of the gop elected county dads.

[dgibby]

2. Oops, my bad!

His budget was cut by the county to the tune of several million dollars. Op edited to include this.

[RT Atlanta]

3. Jefferson Co...

I recall reading several times over the past year or two that Jefferson County (where B'ham is located) was or is flirting with bankruptcy, so the lack of budget doesnt surprise me.

Further, AL has this backwards-ass thing where the property taxes are tied to the state constitution and effectively cannot be raised without a constitutional amendment.

It's a sad state of affairs there and hurts for me personally as I spent 4 pretty good years on the Plains in East AL.