Aug. 8. The Cornelius Town Board approved the expenditure of $170,000 which will be used to provide an additional School Resource Officer (SRO) for the town’s elementary schools. As a result, Cornelius and J.V. Washam elementary schools will each have their own SRO beginning this fall .
The funds will come from the town‘s general fund:
—$90,000 Personnel expense (salary, benefits for a full year)
—$15,000 Operational expense (equipment for the new SRO)
—$65,000 Capital expense (new vehicle and equipment for the vehicle)
The matter had been originally raised at the board’s July 17 meeting, when Commissioner Denis Bilodeau stated that he would like his fellow commissioners to consider adding another SRO to the budget so that both elementary schools in Cornelius are covered, each with its own SRO.
However, it was not on the agenda so a separate budget amendment was needed this month to formalize the initiative.
Police Chief David Baucom indicated that the department would welcome the additional position and would like to start the resource officers in the schools when school is back in session later this month.