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so it looks like Rappahannock will retain the dubious destinction of being the last county in the state of Virginia to rely solely on privately owned vehicles for its law enforcement officers. Dropping county cars from the budget will also help to keep the county’s true effective tax rate the lowest in the state.
We don’t want to see taxes raised. We’re all for the lowest practical tax rate but the key word is “practical.”
It isn’t practical to have two year turn-over rate of 100 per cent for the sheriff’s deputies. As in the public schools, it seems that we’re a training ground for rookies in law enforcement as well. They work for Rappahannock a year or so till they’ve developed expertise and have become acquainted with the territory and the system and then they leave for places where they’re better paid and better appreciated.
According to both sheriff W. A. Buntin and the deputies who’ve moved on, the key factor in the turn-over here in the lack of county cars. Looking at the dollars and cents side of the issue, it’s easy to understand why.
This year, a Rappahannock deputy got 17 cents a mile for the travel he logged in his private vehicle on police business. Driving an average of 3,000 miles per month, that amounts to approximately $6,120 per year. Out of that total must come gas. Each deputy
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