Citizens for Change | Government Activist Organization | Buncombe County North Carolina

Documents & Forms

Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that has.
— Margaret Mead

Citizens For Change provides forms and documents that can be downloaded and printed by concerned citizens who want to particpate in their local government. All documents are in PDF format. See directions at the bottom of this page for downloading PDF's (saving the document to your computer).

Public Employees Salaries
June 2011

The Sheriff's Budget
May 2011
Reading the following explanation concerning the information on the Sheriff’s budget before opening the PDF files below will make it easier for you to understand what I have done. This is the condensed version of the events:

In late 2010, I asked to see all the Purchase Card (credit card) expenditures of the sheriff’s department for the entire year. The amount of paperwork was overwhelming and it has taken me months, in my spare time, to go through every receipt. Gerald Anderson, who is another Citizen For Change member, and I met with Sheriff Duncan, Major Bissinger and Lieutenant Sorrells to discuss the expenditures. Gerald and I questioned a great many of the purchases, but the officers were able to provide an answer for each one. The majority of the charges involved the actual operation of the sheriff’s department. There were a few items the officers weren’t sure about and told us they would get back to us later, which they did. One concern I had was the amount of meal purchases which, to me, appeared to be extremely high. Sheriff Duncan immediately said that all the meals purchased came out of contribution money, so I then asked to see the Purchase Card (credit card) receipts for the Contribution, Grants and Forfeiture Money fund. Here is what Lieutenant Sorrells said in an email to me:

Thanks for checking back so we make sure we both understand. Any meal that is purchased for an employee such as taking the honor guard to lunch to show our appreciation is paid for out of contribution money. If we host an event such as the interagency chiefs meeting where all the local law enforcement heads come to meet together, then we would provide lunch from somewhere like Firehouse subs. This is paid for out of budgeted money because we are asking these local law enforcement leaders to leave their jurisdictions and come to meet together and the best way to do that is to provide a lunch for them so they can minimize time away from their duties.

It still appears to me that too many meals purchased for reasons other than those stated above. Therefore, I decided to focus on the food receipts part of the budget. I listed every meeting where meals were bought and I listed who each meal was for as the information appeared on the receipt. Nothing was changed and I listed them exactly the way I got the receipts. I added a personal comment or two and those appear in red.

In going over the monthly receipts, I noticed there weren’t many expenses for June and July. I contacted Lieutenant Sorrells and this is what he wrote:

As I was telling you in our meeting, policy restricts all purchasing during June to emergency purchases only because it is the 12th period in the fiscal year. The majority of the spending we do in June is for the On-Track program and it comes out of grant funding.

However, the reports appear to show that the money expended does not come from the Grant fund.

The On Track Program is for deserving and underprivileged children who are recommended by the school resource officers, and it consists of camping trips for two groups of 35 children each. They camp at the KOA Campground in Cherokee, tour the Cherokee Museum, go to Chimney Rock, and take a boat tour of Lake Lure. The trips end with a huge banquet, one in June and one in July, for 150 guests each. I have listed only the food expenses and did not include the expenses for all the other activities they take part in. These two camping trips cost thousands of dollars, in addition to the salaries of all the officers participating in the programs with the children. Believe me when I say I am happy to see these children having a good time, but there should be a more cost effective way to achieve this.

I have tried to do an accurate job showing the exact expenditures as they were provided to me by the sheriff’s office. I focused on the food part of the budget because that seems to be an area where expenditures could easily be reduced. Let me stress once more that I had complete cooperation from the sheriff’s department in getting the necessary documentation I needed for this report.

Contributions, Grants & Forfeiture Monies (PDF)
Purchase Cards (PDF)
BCAT Forfeiture (PDF)

Directions for downloading documents:

Click on a link below to open the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Click on the Save button.
Save the document to your local computer.

Get the Adobe Acrobat Reader

Right click over a link above.
Choose Save Target As.
Save the document to your local computer.


ABOUT US MEETINGS & MEMBERSHIP EDITORIALS LETTERS & COMMENTS GOVERNMENT DIRECTORY DOCUMENTS & FORMS CANDIDATE INFORMATION CONTACT US HOME		Documents & Forms Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has. — Margaret Mead Citizens For Change provides forms and documents that can be downloaded and printed by concerned citizens who want to particpate in their local government. All documents are in PDF format. See directions at the bottom of this page for downloading PDF's (saving the document to your computer). Public Employees Salaries June 2011 The Sheriff's Budget May 2011 Reading the following explanation concerning the information on the Sheriff’s budget before opening the PDF files below will make it easier for you to understand what I have done. This is the condensed version of the events: In late 2010, I asked to see all the Purchase Card (credit card) expenditures of the sheriff’s department for the entire year. The amount of paperwork was overwhelming and it has taken me months, in my spare time, to go through every receipt. Gerald Anderson, who is another Citizen For Change member, and I met with Sheriff Duncan, Major Bissinger and Lieutenant Sorrells to discuss the expenditures. Gerald and I questioned a great many of the purchases, but the officers were able to provide an answer for each one. The majority of the charges involved the actual operation of the sheriff’s department. There were a few items the officers weren’t sure about and told us they would get back to us later, which they did. One concern I had was the amount of meal purchases which, to me, appeared to be extremely high. Sheriff Duncan immediately said that all the meals purchased came out of contribution money, so I then asked to see the Purchase Card (credit card) receipts for the Contribution, Grants and Forfeiture Money fund. Here is what Lieutenant Sorrells said in an email to me: Thanks for checking back so we make sure we both understand. Any meal that is purchased for an employee such as taking the honor guard to lunch to show our appreciation is paid for out of contribution money. If we host an event such as the interagency chiefs meeting where all the local law enforcement heads come to meet together, then we would provide lunch from somewhere like Firehouse subs. This is paid for out of budgeted money because we are asking these local law enforcement leaders to leave their jurisdictions and come to meet together and the best way to do that is to provide a lunch for them so they can minimize time away from their duties. It still appears to me that too many meals purchased for reasons other than those stated above. Therefore, I decided to focus on the food receipts part of the budget. I listed every meeting where meals were bought and I listed who each meal was for as the information appeared on the receipt. Nothing was changed and I listed them exactly the way I got the receipts. I added a personal comment or two and those appear in red. In going over the monthly receipts, I noticed there weren’t many expenses for June and July. I contacted Lieutenant Sorrells and this is what he wrote: As I was telling you in our meeting, policy restricts all purchasing during June to emergency purchases only because it is the 12th period in the fiscal year. The majority of the spending we do in June is for the On-Track program and it comes out of grant funding. However, the reports appear to show that the money expended does not come from the Grant fund. The On Track Program is for deserving and underprivileged children who are recommended by the school resource officers, and it consists of camping trips for two groups of 35 children each. They camp at the KOA Campground in Cherokee, tour the Cherokee Museum, go to Chimney Rock, and take a boat tour of Lake Lure. The trips end with a huge banquet, one in June and one in July, for 150 guests each. I have listed only the food expenses and did not include the expenses for all the other activities they take part in. These two camping trips cost thousands of dollars, in addition to the salaries of all the officers participating in the programs with the children. Believe me when I say I am happy to see these children having a good time, but there should be a more cost effective way to achieve this. I have tried to do an accurate job showing the exact expenditures as they were provided to me by the sheriff’s office. I focused on the food part of the budget because that seems to be an area where expenditures could easily be reduced. Let me stress once more that I had complete cooperation from the sheriff’s department in getting the necessary documentation I needed for this report. Contributions, Grants & Forfeiture Monies (PDF) Purchase Cards (PDF) BCAT Forfeiture (PDF) Directions for downloading documents: Click on a link below to open the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click on the Save button. Save the document to your local computer. Get the Adobe Acrobat Reader or Right click over a link above. Choose Save Target As. Save the document to your local computer.