El Dorado County Grand Jury budget more than doubles
The El Dorado County Grand Jury’s budget has more than doubled from what supervisors originally approved.
The 2011-12 budget was for $40,422. But halfway through the fiscal year the jury spent the allocation that was supposed to last through June 30.
In January per court orders the Board of Supervisors added $12,000 to the grand jury budget.
Since then another $41,398 has been allocated for the grand jury to complete its job.
“The money comes out of our contingency, our set aside for economic uncertainties,” Mike Applegarth, the county’s principal administrative analyst, said.
Applegarth told Lake Tahoe News a budget of about $90,000 for the grand jury is likely to be put into the 2012-13 budget.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Any idea how this money was spent?
Yes, 95% of the money is to reimburse the members for travel on the same bases as the general county reimbursements the balance of about $9000.00 is for copy machine, telephone and the usual day to day expenses. The problem arose when the board arbitrarily cut the budget last year without realizing to have a fair and balanced Grand Jury it needed members from Lake Tahoe area which means higher mileage cost. Thanks to the foresight of John Knight the budget was simply restored to the original amount which had been in place for years. The Grand Jury has taken on as its own project to seek grants to provide video conferencing that will allow a major cut in the budget, hopefully as soon as next year. Thank you for your interest.
The teleconferencing needs to be implemented to save dollars on food and travel to Placerville. I suggest local computer outfits contact the county to make a presentation before they pay a consultant a few thousand dollars to make that decision. It would be nice if the county was more transparent though as well.
Thanks for the info Ted – I must of been writing as you typed a response.