ROMULUS, Mich. – The Wayne County Sheriff's Office is over budget by millions of dollars which has led to the BP gas cards for executive staff and for other transportation getting cut off.
As a result they are going to the county maintenance yard in Romulus to get their gasoline. County Sheriff spokeswoman Paula Bridges says it's no big deal, although critics say it appears to be "a robbing Peter to pay Paul" situation.
"I wouldn't call it robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is a situation where we have been able to work with our teams to get through this," said Bridges.
The numbers say it is a larger problem. There are 180 Sheriff's vehicles in the fleet. County records show the Sheriff's Office has 60 "take home" vehicles -- ones used by deputy chiefs and others who are on call 24/7. For that entire fleet there are 82 BP gas cards.
The Sheriff's Office budget is $75,000 a month for gas. Last month it was $22,000 over that budget.
The Wayne County Commission is enforcing budget lines. The Sheriff's Office is going to be billed by the Road Commission for all gasoline it pumps.
"Those that are handling our finances are in talks to help us cover the bills we're supposed to cover," said Bridges.
At this point the gas situation has not impacted Sheriff operations outside of a couple of prisoners who haven't been moved out of state because it's too far to go on one tank.