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Webster officials allocate funds for law enforcement patrols
By Justin Goble
Webster residents will soon have law enforcement officers patrolling their streets.
Town officials earmarked $5,000 for police patrols in their 2006-07 budget, which was passed unanimously last Thursday (June 29).
According to Mayor Steve Gray, the money was originally for the installation of a water line by the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority. However, the funds available in the budget would not cover those costs, Gray said.
“That money may have been enough to start surveying and engineering,” Gray said. “We still have five years worth of savings in our reserve funds (for the TWSA project), so we decided to use the money in our budget to hire law enforcement patrols.”
The main concern for both officials and residents has been traffic enforcement. Gray said he is hoping that the patrols will cut down on the traffic problems that have plagued Webster.
“It’s something we’ve been requesting for a while now,” Gray said. “The traffic safety committee discussed it, and the Sheriff’s Office has talked to them about it as well. It’s been requested by some of the townspeople as well – especially the ones that live near N.C. 116 where the traffic is bad.”
To patrol the town’s streets, Webster leaders will hire off-duty sheriff’s deputies. Gray said the $5,000 would not cover a full year’s worth of patrols, but he is hoping that they will be available at least six hours per week.
Though he hopes having officers on patrol may ease the town’s traffic woes, Gray said he and other town officials would be on watch to see if the service is worth the taxpayer dollars being spent.
“We’re going to see how it goes,” Gray said. “If December rolls around and we’re not satisfied, we’ll stop paying for it.”
Other expenditures in the $47,117 budget include $5,000 in attorney fees; $4,000 for an audit; $11,739 for the Sylva Fire Department; $1,350 for street lights; and $6,500 for town hall improvements.
Webster leaders will hold their regular meeting tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. in town hall.
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