NEW BOSTON, Texas - Restoring five deputy positions lost in Bowie County's 2015 budget cuts was one request made by the sheriff's office during a recent budget hearing for the upcoming fiscal year.
During the budget meeting with Bowie County Commissioners Court last month, outgoing Sheriff James Prince along with sheriff-elect Jeff Neal requested that the five deputy personnel positions, along with one vacant clerical position, be replaced after having been cut five years ago to help the county weather a financial crisis.
"We were cut four patrol deputy positions, along with one investigator position and one clerical position in order to meet the overall mandatory 15% county budget reduction at that time," Prince said during the hearing. "None of these positions were ever returned to our budget."
Prince told commissioners that restoring all six positions would amount to an annual cost of slightly more than $343,000 in an overall budget of more than $3.8 million the sheriff's office is proposing for the upcoming fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
Prince, who provided commissioners with a breakdown of the cost of each position individually, added that if the county isn't able to completely fund the personnel-restoration proposal, the office would be willing to look at proposing a schedule to start replacing the positions as funding would allow over a period of time.
Prince proposed that it might be possible to finance each position one year at a time.
Prince and Neal also said the office's patrol vehicle fleet will need some upgrading.
"Our patrol vehicles are four years old and we need to start a rotation to replace them," Prince said. "The cost of upgrading one unit, by using as much of the equipment as we can from our old units, is about $42,000. This would make the total cost of replacing five patrol vehicles $210,000."
Prince added that such a vehicle-replacement plan wouldn't include the office's Criminal Investigations Division vehicles or administrative vehicles.
"These vehicles are still in good shape and should last us a while longer," he said.
Following the hearings, the Commissioners Court agreed to study the request.