As the administrative agency for the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Safety Funds, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles has issued a grant award of $116,050 for the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office to meet strategic highway safety goals.

The following information represents the alcohol crash statistics for Spotsylvania County for the following calendar years:

If accepted, these grant funds will provide approximately 2,000 overtime hours of selective enforcement for alcohol on primary or secondary roadways.  This project will provide for $92,000 in overtime costs to enforce highway safety law. Additionally, the award will fund the purchase of equipment: $13,200 for six radar units and $7,650 for 17 preliminary breath tests. The award will also provide $3,200 to send four attendees to Virginia Highway Safety Training Office approved trainings. The grant requires any travel and subsistence reimbursements to follow the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Travel Policy. Any costs above the state reimbursement amount that still falls within the County’s Adopted Travel Policy will be paid for from the Sheriff’s Office FY 2018 and/or FY 2019 operational budgets.

The award requires an in-kind service match of $58,025 that will be met through the use of the Sheriff’s Office fuel and maintenance costs for enforcement vehicles from the FY 2018 and FY 2019 operational budgets.  Furthermore, the grant will not pay for the FICA, Medicare, and Workers’ Compensation costs associated with the overtime. It is estimated that these associated costs will be $8,924.  The Sheriff’s Office will absorb these costs through their FY 2018 and FY 2019 operational budgets. 

If approved, the grant award period will run from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. No-cost extensions are not usually allowed under this program.

Captain Roger Harris II, Sheriff’s Office

First Sergeant Timothy Bryner, Sheriff’s Office

Sergeant Scott Lockard, Sheriff’s Office