INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The County Commission today denied Sheriff Deryl Loar’s request for $600,000 to purchase new patrol cars. Loar initially made the request in December. At that time, commissioners raised several objections and tabled the matter until today’s meeting, asking the sheriff to provide more information about his budget and the patrol car fleet.
The new information did not change any minds on the Commission. Commissioner Gary Wheeler continued to object, as he did in December, to the Sheriff coming back to the Commission shortly after his final budget was approved to ask for more money for capital expenditures.
“I am where I was before,” Wheeler said. “I cannot support this. The budget process is for the community to know how money will be spent and we have a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers. If you had asked for money for new cars in your budget, I would have supported that, but there was not one penny for capital expenditure in the budget you submitted in May.”
Loar responded, as he did in December; by reminding Wheeler that the Commission had left the door open during final budget negotiations for him to come back and request additional money for capital expenditure from the one-cent sales tax fund.
Commissioner Bob Solari agreed with Loar that discussion had been part of the budget process but said the discussion was founded on mistaken information. Solari said that, based on information provided by the Sheriff during budget discussions, he believed only 13 or 14 new patrol cars had been purchased in the previous two years.
“Now I see it was 29 cars in 2009-2010 and 29 cars in 2010-2011. The fleet is in a lot better condition than I thought it was when we agreed to consider an additional request.”
Commissioner Joe Flescher said he had inspected some patrol cars and looked at paperwork showing when they were put into operation.
“The vehicles I see out there are in excellent shape,” Flescher said. “I don’t think the fleet has been in this good of shape anytime in the recent past.”
No commissioner supported the sheriff’s request and a motion to deny the request passed unanimously.
