The Meals on Wheels program is run out of the Marshall County Council on Aging organization and they have a contract with the sheriff’s department. The staff at the sheriff’s department prepares the meals for the Meals on Wheels program at a cost of $3.25 plus an overhead charge of 70 cents which includes labor and use of equipment.
The money received by the Marshall County Council on Aging goes back to the county for its costs and whatever is left is deposited into the Commissary Fund in the sheriff’s budget.
Sheriff Chamberlin told the commissioners that he was notified of the recent change that the money he deposits from the Meals on Wheels program cannot go into the Commissary Fund. The sheriff stated that since the contract began in 2012, the money had gone into that account to help defray costs at the jail or it can be used at the sheriff’s discretion. He was not informed of this change when a recent audit was conducted of his department and nothing had been said about this change.
The new change suggests that the money not go to the sheriff’s department, but directly to the auditor’s office for distribution, but the federal dollars received from the Meals on Wheels program cannot be deposited into the Commissary Fund and a separate fund must be set up for those monies.
It was explained to Sheriff Chamberlin that if he needs money in the Commissary Fund then a request for an additional appropriation can be made for that fund.
For transparency purposes, the Meals on Wheels funds will have its own line item in the Sheriff’s budget.
Chamberlin asked for a clarification in this finding and it will be discussed between the sheriff and the commission president this week.
