GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — Voters in two northeast Alabama counties will decide Tuesday whether their sheriffs can use jail inmate food money for other purposes.
In Etowah and Marshall counties, local constitutional amendments would let the sheriffs use all leftover money on sheriff's office business, up from 25% now.
Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton is pledging to use any leftover money to fund school resource officers at county schools.
The referendums are part of the fallout from earlier efforts to keep sheriffs from personally pocketing money left over after feeding inmates. That practice was long legal in Alabama, but was finally banned after scandals.