DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson has asked the Board of Commissioners to reallocate $397,318.58 that was left unspent in his 2017 budget to his 2018 budget. County policy dictates that an overage in any departmental budget must be returned to the General Fund.

Johnson sent an email to the Board of Commissioners Tuesday which states: “Lately, there has been much discussion about excessive funds remaining in the S.O. (Sheriff’s Office) 2017 Budget. It has been asserted that these funds may have been applied to a CAD System or other needs. I ask you to simply reallocate those remaining funds to this 2018 budget. Although I cannot say with all certainty that this amount would completely cover the cost of a new CAD System, I believe it would. Remaining funds could be applied to other needs such as SWAT equipment, etc.”

FetchYourNews (FYN) obtained a copy of that email via an open records request. Johnson himself confirms what FYN reported last week: “That he could have purchased the CAD system and had money left over.”

County officials have repeatedly recommended that he allow the county Finance Department and Purchasing Department to assist him. It is a free resource that, to this point, the sheriff has declined to utilize.

Several county officials have questioned whether Johnson knew he had money left in the 2017 budget.

County Manager David Headley said, “We are at a loss to understand why he would not address more of his needs if he did know. It could have been used. He could have used it to fund whatever he wanted. He could have gotten the CAD system and the SWAT equipment.”

Several sources who were present when Johnson addressed a Leadership Dawson class recently said when he was asked how much money remained in his budget his answer was: about $100,000.

On the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, Johnson advises, “Always consider the source” in reference to a recent FetchYourNews article. That is excellent advice.

The source of the following information is Johnson himself. The sheriff has claimed that a significant population increase has led to an increase in law enforcement activity. However, he provided a report to the county recently that contradicts that claim.

His report shows a decline in citations, traffic stops and arrests over a 10-year period, and more importantly, during his first year in office.

Between 2007 and 2017, citations declined from 2,323 to 914. Traffic stops dropped from 9,254 to 4,473 and arrests declined from 2,273 to 1,494.

Looking only at Johnson’s first year in office, citations dropped significantly from 1,727 in 2016, to 914 last year. Arrests fell from 1,665 to 1,494. Only traffic stops showed an increase from 4,170 in 2016 to 4,473 last year.

Johnson’s claim that the county population has increased significantly, likewise, is not accurate. In rejecting the sheriff’s lawsuit against the county, Senior Superior Court Judge Fred A. Bishop said research shows that Dawson County’s population has only increased by an average of 1 percent per year for the last 10 years.

The first quarter of 2018 will end soon. Hopefully, it is the year in which the sheriff and Board of Commissioners can work out his differences for the sake of all county taxpayers.