Apr 21, 2009 5:54 pm US/Eastern
Sheriff Stops Paying Some Bills To Pay Salaries
NEW BEDFORD (WBZ) ―
The Bristol County Sheriff's Department has stopped paying its medical and utility bills because it is running out of money.
Sheriff Thomas Hodgson hasn't paid the department's electric bill, heating bill or paper vendor since January, or the vendor that provides inmates medical care since November.
He told WBZ's Dawn Hasbrouck he is paying for basic food and clothing for inmates and most importantly, he says, officers' salaries.
"This is a question of public safety. This is a question of protecting our community," he said. "I'm not releasing any prisoners out into the community because of the budget."
He says he's cut 59 positions and overtime and hasn't received the funding from the state he needs.
Hodgson estimates his $41.34 million budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30 will be depleted by May 21. The budget is less than he received four years ago in 2005 when he got about $41.7 million.
He says he needs $5.4 million in emergency funding from the state.
If he doesn't get the cash, he says everyone will be laid off and he'd ask Gov. Deval Patrick to call in the National Guard to cover the correctional facility.
Bristol County Treasurer Kevin Finnerty has an even bleaker prediction. He thinks the money will be gone by May 14, perhaps earlier.
Hodgson says the department has just more than $2 million in outstanding bills, including $1.4 million owed to Correctional Medical Care, which provides medical services to inmates.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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