On September 30, 2016, just one day after the Greene County Commission finalized its budget for 2016-2017 fiscal year, the Greene County Sheriff Jonathan Benison, through his attorney Flint Liddon, filed a suit with the Greene County Circuit Court alleging that the Greene County Commission had “fulfilled essentially none of the terms of the Settlement Agreement and the Sheriff had fulfilled all of the terms of the Settlement Agreement.” The agreement referenced here is the settlement reached in February, 2016 between the commission and the sheriff in which the sheriff would provided additional bingo resources to the county and the commission would utilize a portion of those resources to support the sheriff’s department including providing some upgrades at the county jail.
The Sheriff’s suit, among its attachments, lists the particulars of the February agreement including the provision that the Sheriff would provide to the county an additional $5 per bingo machine per month totaling $85 per machine from all the gaming facilities in the county. According to the Greene County Commission, the sheriff has not paid the additional $5 per bingo machine since the agreement was reached in February.
In reviewing the entire agreement, it is apparent that the commission’s ability to meet the budget request of the Sheriff Department is contingent on the sheriff complying with the payments of the $85 per bingo machine to the commission.
The sheriff’s suit asks the court to enforce the terms of the Settlement Agreement signed by both parties. The court’s enforcement would necessitate that the sheriff pay the county $85 per bingo machine per month from February 2016 through the county’s 2019 fiscal year from all gaming facilities in the county.