New Vehicles approved for Sheriff’s Office

Twelve new patrol vehicles and a new animal control truck are on the way to the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office after the Board of Supervisors approved a $776,970 request from the Sheriff’s Office at the December 20, 2022 meeting at the Botetourt County Administrative Center at Amsterdam.

Sheriff Matt Ward said that a result of delayed purchases due to the pandemic, the Sheriff’s Department was behind on its vehicle replacement program. Higher mileage vehicles generally require more expensive repairs, Ward told the supervisors. Additionally, the Sheriff’s Department is reaching full staffing, and those deputies require vehicles.

In fiscal year 2021, the Sheriff’s Department only purchase two new vehicles instead of the 13 requested. In fiscal year 2022 and 2023, 10 department vehicles were included in the budget for each of those fiscal years, with no additional vehicles provided to “catch up” from the loss in 2021.

Ward said the new vehicles needed to be purchased now in order to provide safer vehicles to deputies and to avoid the next price increase.

The money for the vehicles would come from Botetourt County’s Undesignated General Fund.

The supervisors voted unanimously to approve the vehicle purchase.

                                                            Anita Firebaugh – Special to The Botetourt Bee

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