ISABELLA COUNTY, Mich. (WJRT) - It was a story that drew national headlines, a mid-Michigan sheriff warning residents his budget for fuel had run dry, and responding to incident calls will be prioritized.
The Isabella County Board of Commissioners has amended the sheriff's fuel budget, using marijuana tax revenue to keep the gas tanks full.
"It’s the new cash crop," says Isabella County administrator Nicole Frost.
The new cash crop for local governments which have recreational marijuana shops is the tax revenue the state shares with municipalities.
The county board has approved using tax revenue from those marijuana sales to increase the sheriff's fuel budget, so in a way, marijuana money will help fill the gas tanks of Isabella County Sheriff's department vehicles for the rest of the fiscal year ending September 30.
"Maybe it is a little ironic that that's what the sheriff is putting in his tank," says Frost.
This all started a few weeks ago when Sheriff Michael Main posted on Facebook that his $40,000 budget for fuel was pretty much gone due to the high gas prices.
He wrote that police calls which are non-life-threatening, those that do not require deputies to collect evidence or documentation and those that are not crimes in-progress would be handled by phone in an attempt to reduce fuel expenditures.
"I applaud him for trying to get out in front of that, but there was really never a threat of non-response from that department," says Frost.
She said that other extra revenue is also being used to shore up the fuel budget with an additional $20,000.
"That may or may not be enough to get the sheriff through the rest of the fiscal year," says Frost.
Even if it's not, emergency calls will be answered.
"The officers are still going to pull out of that parking lot even if they happen to go into a deficit in their budget," Frost says. ...
