By Ray King
Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson and Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr., sat down Friday morning for a discussion on Woods request for money to keep the adult jail operating.
Woods has requested almost $231,000, the bulk of that to pay for food and said in a memo to Robinson, the Quorum Court, Treasurer Vonysha Goodwin and County Clerk Shawndra Taggart that the food line item in the 2022 budge is in the red b more than $23,000.
Goodwin and Taggart both attended the meeting as did Justices of the Peace Jimmy Fisher and Ted Harden, who was sitting in for Dr. Conley Byrd. Byrd recently had heart surgery.
Currently there is more than $585,000 in the adult jail budget and Woods wants to use some of those funds to cover the appropriation.
Robinson on the other hand wants to take money that is currently appropriated for salaries for jail employees to pay for Woods’ request.
He said based on the number of vacant positions, the request could be covered and there would still be more than $1 million in the salaries line item in the budget, even if all the positions are filled.’
After the meeting, Robinson spoke with Deltaplex News.
That $585,000 that is in the adult jail budget came from a sales tax approved by county voters and Goodwin told Robinson that the tax brings in about $250,000 each month.
Woods also talked to Deltaplex News about wanting to use funds from the sales tax.
He said he would consult his attorney, Kimberly Dale, who attended the meeting by Zoom and would get back to Robinson, and to Jimmy Fisher, chairman of the Finance Committee on how bow to proceed.
Robinson said a special meeting of the Quorum Court will be set Tuesday to appropriate the funds, either from the sales tax or transferring them from unspent salary money.
