Bourbon County sheriff seeks vehicle lease program and a public-safety fund from inmate-housing revenue

Sheriff Martin told the Bourbon County Commission on an agenda-item hearing that he had forwarded a government credit application for an Enterprise Fleet Management leasing program to the clerk’s office and county legal counsel but that the application was not complete and would be returned to the commission after staff filled in missing information.

The sheriff also reviewed a draft resolution meant to identify and authorize use of out-of-county inmate-housing receipts as a public-safety fund and described a proposed split in the draft that would allocate 60% for sheriff operations and 40% to a county equipment/cash reserve. He said he would not begin drawing on the fund without returning to the commission for permission.

Why it matters: The proposal would change how revenue generated by housing inmates for other jurisdictions is earmarked and used, potentially reducing the sheriff’s future ad valorem (property-tax) budget requests if the revenue remains stable. Commissioners pressed for details on…