Donation stirs sheriff’s office wish list

HOT SPRINGS — An unnamed benefactor willing to donate equipment to the Garland County sheriff’s office’s ailing marine patrol has emerged, prompting the county to solicit an in-kind response from the private sector.

County Judge Darryl Mahoney told the Garland County Quorum Court’s Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee on Monday night that the benefactor, whom the county has declined to disclose, is willing to provide a new boat and refurbish one of two Boston Whalers that patrolled Lake Hamilton last summer.

“We have a commitment from a local constituent to provide significant funding to purchase new equipment,” Mahoney said. “We’ve been absolutely blessed by locals who are willing to get us some nice equipment.”

Mahoney said he’s hoping other private sector interests will follow suit, providing funding for the patrol’s operation and maintenance costs.

A letter that County Attorney John Howard will be drafting on behalf of Mahoney and Sheriff Mike McCormick will solicit financial assistance from owners of residential and commercial property on the lake.

Mahoney said their proximity to the waterway and the livelihood they derive from it make them the primary beneficiaries of a viable marine patrol, which officials have said is hamstrung by a lack of funding and the rising costs of maintaining 1999 and 2003 Boston Whalers.

McCormick told the committee that a new, fully equipped patrol boat would cost a minimum of $100,000. He estimated a minimum cost of $50,000 to refurbish an existing boat.

“I think our biggest asset is going to be trying to get the property owners and the businesses that live off that lake to assist us and keep the marine patrol fluid,” Mahoney said, explaining that maintaining a conspicuous law enforcement presence on the lake discourages unsafe and nuisance boating.

The assistance would be the first substantial private-sector support the patrol has received since the January 2014 dissolution of the Lake Hamilton Safe Boating Association. The nonprofit raised money for the patrol and donated equipment, including the two Boston Whalers and a 2004 Baja that the county sold at its surplus auction in July.

Donations that the county solicits would be deposited into its boating safety fund. It, along with the general fund, are the marine patrol’s primary funding sources. Most of the fund’s $45,756 in projected 2020 revenue comes from a more than $30,000 beginning balance. State funds of $13,000 are also projected.

The 2020 budget that the Quorum Court adopted appropriated $15,276 from the boating safety fund, including $7,874 in personnel expenses and $7,402 for fuel, oil, lubricants, parts and repairs. Invoices that the county provided in response to a recent public records request showed that more than $36,000 was spent over the past six years maintaining and repairing marine patrol boats.

“To keep everything transparent, that’s where the donations need to be made to,” Mahoney said. “I know in the past there’s been nonprofits that maybe didn’t do things the right way, so we’re going to make sure we stay transparent in this entire operation.”

Mahoney said he’s confident that donations will be such to keep a voluntary marine patrol levy off of tax bills. A $10 voluntary levy is already listed for the county’s spay-and-neuter program, and many of the county’s volunteer fire departments put their annual dues on tax bills.

“Right now our tax collector has so much going on with their tax bills between fire districts and everything else,” he said. “I don’t want to burden them with anything else. I think the concern and generosity of our community will fund this. I really do. I may be proven wrong, but that’s where we’re going to reach first.”