Breathitt Co. Sheriff’s Dept. temporarily closes

JACKSON, Ky. (WYMT) - The Breathitt County Sheriff’s Department has temporarily closed.

The closing came after the Breathitt County Fiscal Court tabled its vote to fulfill a funding request for payroll.

Breathitt County Judge Executive Jeff Noble said Sheriff John Hollan asked for $40,000, but he said the county would have a hard time paying that because of recent disasters.

“That’s just the issue that we ain’t got budgeted to give him more program support. You know, everything we had, it’s killed us too financially,” said Noble.

Noble added that the fiscal court decided 4-1 to table the issue because Hollan was out of town, and they wanted to hear directly from him.

”You know, I don’t know why he’s at this point, but the fiscal court wants to sit down and say, ‘Why do you need $40,000? How did you mess up with the budget this way or what happened to cause it to be a shortfall?” said Noble.

Hollan took issue with the decision, posting on Facebook that he was under the impression they would be able to receive the funding.

In the Facebook post seen above, Hollan said, “The Breathitt County Judge Executive was made aware of this a month ago and gave me his word there was not a problem with the program support money that I requested to make the BCSO payroll. Judge Noble and I have had several conversations about this and he assured me the money was not a problem.”

Hollan said the department vehicles were parked at the Breathitt County Courthouse. He explained that the “vehicles will not be moved until the issue is resolved.”

Noble said, as of Thursday afternoon, he and Hollan had not spoken. Both separately told WYMT that they will work to resolve the issue once Hollan returns to town.

In the meantime, Jackson Police and Kentucky State Police will fill the void of the sheriff’s department.

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