According to the dictionary, a public official that is a “lame duck” is: An elected officeholder or group continuing in office during the period between failure to win an election and the inauguration of a successor.

Yet, Sheriff John Everett, who was defeated in the primary run-off election in July, told The Summerville News last week, “I’m not missing in action and I’m not a lame-duck sheriff.” 

A budget battle between Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters and Sheriff Everett has been brewing for the past several weeks.  Winters contends that the county cannot continue to pay the Sheriff’s departments mounting spending bills and wants to put the sheriff on a tighter budget to avoid overages between now and the end of the year.

Everett maintains that he has saved the county thousands of dollars by not having a chief deputy and limiting postage stamps to jail inmates along with other measures. 

Everett points to the fact that the Sheriff’s Department budget and the Jail Budget – two separate line items on the county’s expenses – has always gone over budget.  He is correct.  Over the past twenty years the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Department and the Jail have gone over budget repeatedly.  Winters says that the difference now is that the county simply does not have the resources to cover the overages.

The commissioner has allotted the sheriff’s department a set amount of money to spend between now and the end of the year.  Sheriff Everett maintains that Winters must pay the bills he submits, and Commissioner Winters maintains that he won’t pay any more than he has outlined between now and year’s end. 

Everett has said that he is looking at furloughs and different schedules to cut costs.  The sheriff stated that he plans to furlough each employee one day a month on a rotating schedule.