Request By:
Captain David L. Osborne
Daviess County Sheriff's Department
212 St. Ann Street
Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Gerard R. Gerhard, Assistant Attorney General
Re: Whether Sheriff's Office May Obtain Reimbursement for Transporting and Standing By With County Prisoners In Connection with Court Ordered Mental Evaluations. AGO Corr. No. 90-(O)-709.
By letter of May 6, 1991, you asked, in substance, whether a sheriff's office may obtain reimbursement from either the fiscal court or the county jail budget for costs associated with transporting, and standing by with, county prisoners in connection with court ordered psychological evaluations.
In our view, the answer is yes, subject to proper budgeting and availability of funds. KRS 441.505, OAG 84-330. Discussion follows.
KRS 441.505(1) directs, in part, that:
The fiscal court of each county shall provide for the transportation of prisoners as necessary from the jail budget.
* * * *
It follows from the language quoted above that a fiscal court should, subject to availability of funds, assure that the jail budget provides for costs of prisoner transportation. The sheriff's office could be reimbursed from the jail budget, upon documentation of costs, for its reasonable costs in transporting and standing by with county prisoners in connection with court-ordered psychological evaluations. Cf., OAG 84-330, at page 3, copy enclosed.
We note, however, that the statutory duty imposed upon the sheriff to transport prisoners (except in an urban county, and as otherwise provided) (KRS 441.510(1)(c)), transcends availability of funds. If a county does not have resources to pay for prisoner transportation, the sheriff's office must nonetheless carry out such responsibility as part of the statutorily assigned duties of the office.