MADISON County – Sheriff John Mehr asked the commission to approve an added fee of $5.00 to all traffic citations issued by the county. A law allows counties to charge a $5.00 fee on traffic citations and $4.00 goes back to the Sheriff’s department for the purchase and maintenance of the Electronic Ticket devices.

Buddy Gresham, Finance Officer with the sheriff’s department said the new devices will provide added safety for the officers by getting them through the ticket process more quickly and away from oncoming traffic.  Gresham said the deputy will swipe the driver’s license and immediately know if there are any other outstanding violations against the car or driver.  The electronic ticket machine will automatically issue the ticket with just a few entries from the deputy.

Gresham said the sheriff’s deputies have already increased the ticket writing but will have to get numbers up about 250% of the current number to get where they need to be for budget.

Sheriff Mehr said the current 4 copy carbon system is outdated, ineffective, and costly in man power time.  “We need the deputies to get the tickets issued and back on patrol as quickly as possible so they can get more of the dangerous drivers these county commissioners and others are complaining about off the road” said Mehr