St. Louis sheriff’s office wants to use thousands of taxpayer dollars on golf carts
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4)—City of St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery and his office appeared before the Budget and Public Employees Committee on Tuesday when the department’s request for additional fleet costs was questioned.
During budget discussions this week, Sheriff Montgomery requested an increase in his fleet budget from $3,500 to $97,000. What followed was a line of questioning between newly-elected Ward 5 Alderman Matt Devoti and Sheriff Montgomery’s Chief of Staff, Blake Lawrence.
“There was talk at the courthouse about the office buying golf carts for some reason - is there anything going on as far as that goes for transportation?” Devoti asked.
Lawrence responded, “Our footprint covers the Carnahan building, the Cahill building, the juvenile building; we can use those for different, not just one building. A lot of law enforcement agencies have those.”
The sheriff’s office also asked for more money for pay raises and additional employees, citing a need for more deputies to be available for hospital detail.
The sheriff’s office is responsible for courtroom security and the transfer of prisoners from the courthouse to detention facilities. It’s unclear why the office is also responsible for transporting inmates to hospitals.
It was confusing enough Alderman Devoti to question the sheriff’s role with hospital detail and why the department needs golf carts.
“If we are talking about moving from the civil courts building or Cahill to the Carnahan Courthouse, we are talking about crossing Market. I don’t mean to be dense, but why is a golf cart necessary to cross Market Street?” asked Devoti.
“The sheriff’s department, like most city departments, is a logistically intense department. We have nearly 170 FTEs, the juvenile courts building, and interactions with the CJC. We don’t need a fleet of golf carts, but [we do need them] to transport equipment or make a run to the hospital,” explained Lawrence.
Devoti responded, “I’m not trying to be difficult, but I assume nobody is driving a golf cart from the central downtown district to Vandeventer. You’re going to use a transport van?”
According to the Budget and Public Employees Committee, the sheriff’s office had an $11 million budget this past year. It’s slated to receive a $1 million increase in the budget year.
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