JPs quiz sheriff over spending flagged as ‘improper’ in audit

The Pulaski County Quorum Court questioned Sheriff Eric Higgins regarding several “improper disbursements” and “questionable disbursements” during their Tuesday meeting.

A Legislative Joint Auditing Committee report from Legislative Auditor Roger Norman details the expenditures of the sheriff’s office between Jan. 1, 2019, and Sept. 15, 2020.

The audit flagged $29,491 spent on furniture and office decorations, $12,237 on 49 televisions and $4,126 on modifications to the vehicle that Higgins drives as questionable and several others as improper.

Invoices that the sheriff’s office failed to pay from August 2019 to July 2020 and multiple unauthorized withdrawals from county accounts were also detailed in the audit.

This is now the second recent appearance for Higgins before the Quorum Court in the past year. He appeared in September to speak about issues within the jail, such as locks and control panels not functioning properly.

Higgins also spoke to the Quorum Court about the 2021 budget.

During those meetings, Justice of the Peace Phil Stowers took particular interest. On Tuesday, Stowers applauded the sheriff’s work over the past year, specifically in minimizing the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.

“I think that your staff and your office deserve a tremendous amount of accolades,”

Stowers said.

He asked Higgins about money the sheriff’s office owed vendors as of Sept. 15, and Higgins said all debts have been paid.

“Everything has been paid,” Higgins said. “We’re not behind on anything.”

The audit detailed how the sheriff’s office spent $4,126 on details for Higgins’ county-owned vehicle. When Stowers asked about that, the sheriff said the vehicle is county-owned and that the changes made to it will stay with the county. Eventually the vehicle will be passed down to detectives or other administrators, he said.

“I want you to understand that, when we purchase vehicles for administration staff, those vehicles will stay with administrative staff for a little while, then they will move down,” Higgins said. “It’s not different from any other vehicle we’ve purchased.”

Higgins said vehicles previously purchased by the department were not mentioned in previous years’ audits.

Justice of the Peace Kristina Gulley cited several issues related to Higgins’ use of county money, especially his requests for more funds for things like replacing generators at the jail.

“Since I’ve been on this court, I’ve supported increased funding for the control systems and for the locks,” Gulley said. “I recall the sheriff telling me that he would like some new generators. Some of this spending right here doesn’t make any sense. That money could have been used towards at least one generator. I guess because of his position as elected official that there’s no accountability, but if this was a county employee, we would be held accountable for that.”

Justice of the Peace Curtis Keith asked about the television purchases and how the televisions were used in the jail. Higgins said the jail’s televisions were upgraded, and new ones were purchased for a new command center that was used Jan. 6 during the situation at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and for more accurately tracking deputy locations.

“In the 911 center, where we have updated equipment, we have updated tracking of the vehicles now,” Higgins said. “So we need larger monitors. We use TV screens to monitor the locations of the deputies because we couldn’t monitor the locations of the deputies before.”

Some of the televisions were put in jail common areas where Higgins said a “tier system” has been implemented for inmates. Good behavior earns them better perks, including larger televisions, Higgins said.

“Ninety percent of the people in the facility are not convicted, so we have to make sure we’re treating them humanely and make sure we have some equipment in there,” Higgins said. “I didn’t ask for any money for that because I used the current budget that I had.”

According to the audit, an alcoholic beverage was purchased with county money. Higgins said the funds should not have been reimbursed to the deputy, and all discrepancies similar to that have been resolved.

Gulley said toward the end of the questioning that she was not satisfied with the answers Higgins gave for the questionable purchases.

“That’s money, in my opinion, that can be used for employee bonuses or salary,” Gulley said. “We have to take care of the people who are taking care of us. To me there’s still no justification of what I’m seeing here.”