A nearly 50 year agreement may soon be coming to an end between the City of Carmi Police and Sheriff’s Departments. The City County Jail and dispatch, since 1975, have split the cost of bills and salaries between the city of Carmi and White County. Police Chief Jason Carter says…
Carter says with Sheriff Randy Graves not running for re-election and jail administrator Sheila Headlee retiring in the near future, now is the time to make the change. On top of that, the financial burden on law enforcement through government mandates is going to require some fiscal attention.
Financially, Carter says it’s a no brainer. In 2018, White County started asking the other municipalities (Grayville, Crossville, Norris City, Enfield) in the county to start contributing what they considered their fair share for dispatching. Up to that point, the county and Carmi were the only entities paying for the cost of dispatching. Grayville opted out of utilizing White County dispatching from that point forward and instead moved to Edwards County where officials felt they got a better deal, according to the police chief. Carter says it actually worked out better for White County as call volume went down. Additionally, Carter says there was a significant change in the numbers when Headlee took over jail administration. She was able to save just under $50,000 from 2020 compared to 2019.
The numbers from the City County Jail from Police Chief Jason Carter available by clicking City County Jail Numbers_92121
You can hear all of Chief Carter’s comments (as well as those from Sheriff Randy Graves) delivered at Tuesday’s City Council meeting below:
