The 60 percent increase in the number of tickets issued by the South Boston Police Department could be the result of an increase in reduced sentences once the defendant gets to court, Commonwealth's Attorney John Greenbacker said yesterday.
"The thing you need to check on is the number of these cases that are resulting in convictions," Greenbacker said.
The Commonwealth's Attorney said that in his opinion, so many cases are being dismissed that it is affecting the income of the department.
"I don't know what the situation there is, but I think a portion of the fines is supposed to go to the locality," Greenbacker said.
"More tickets means more revenue," he added.
In his estimation, Greenbacker said there has been some pressure on the South Boston Police Department not to spend so much money.
"The only way to raise money is to write tickets," he suggested.
But Town Finance Officer Vandie Saunders disagrees.
"I think that's a sophomoric approach to what's happening, but that may be his opinion of it," Saunders said.
He called Greenbacker's opinion "distorted."
Saunders said every department in the town has been encouraged to keep costs down.
He added that although the police department is the second-largest expense in the budget, behind the public works department, their income from the town is not tied to their revenue.
"It doesn't matter how many tickets they write, they don't get extra money for them," Saunders said.
"If they made a concerted effort to give tickets, everyone would get a ticket every day," he claimed.
The finance officer said income from fines is minimal when taken in context to the $9,990,625 in general fund revenues.
"This year, we are projecting $88,555 in income from fines and forfeitures," Saunders said.
"That is down 6 percent from last year.
"Even if they doubled (the projected amount), it's not a significant amount in the scheme of things," he said.
According to Saunders, revenue generated by the police department goes into the general fund for the town.
Saunders offered words in defense of the police department.
"I think (the police department) has been under a lot of scrutiny lately," he said.
"Large departments with large budgets usually are.
"And the criticism isn't necessarily bad," he added.
"They put themselves in the public eye and open themselves up to scrutiny, that's the nature of the beast."

To say that the Halifax County Recreation Commission is upset over an $8,000 cut in the county recreation budget is a huge understatement.
Members of the commission are so upset over the 6.26 percent cut that they want a face-to-face meeting with the Board of Supervisors.
County officials have proposed a $120,191 budget for the county recreation department for FY 2002-2003, a cut of $8,022 from the current year's budget.
The proposed 2002-2003 budget includes no salary increase for county recreation director Brad Ballou whose annual salary stands at $29,988.
In reality, the budget cut is larger if one considers the figures for the current budget year.
The Board of Supervisors appropriated $128,213 to the county recreation department for the current budget year.
However, Ballou said the total at the end of this fiscal year will be $131,909 if additional funds he has had to request from the county this year are considered.
If that amount is used as a more accurate number, the recreation budget cut deepens.
"This is just ridiculous," said Ed Owens, South Boston's representative on the commission.
"You don't have any kind of latitude here," he added.
"In the Town of South Boston, we spend $30,000 to $40,000 more than that out of the town budget. We cannot make it on this."
Commission member Tabitha Burton agreed.
"We don't have any leeway to do anything for anybody," she pointed out.
Commission member Harrison Conner said the reason for the budget cuts is simple.
"The people on the Board (of Supervisors) don't think recreation is important," Conner said.
"That's what it all boils down to."
Burton said the proposed county recreation budget is so tight and gives the commission so little latitude in what it can do that the commission may just as well disband.
"We can't do one thing," Burton charged.
"There is nothing to discuss. If we are not going to have any leeway to do anything, then there is no need for us to meet. There is nothing for us to do."
Commission member Frank Perkins, a state official in the girls Dixie Softball program, said that many of the leagues and facilities that the organization deals with are financed and run by county recreation departments.
Perkins said he is of the opinion that Halifax County trails badly in recreation as compared to other localities.
"I think Halifax County is really pitiful," Perkins said.
"It's a personal opinion of mine."
The commission noted that the county recreation department started with a $75,000 budget.
Now, 31 years later, the budget, in the face of additional programs and needs, the budget is just over $121,000.
"That's a token," Owens said.
"The county is not making a commitment to recreation. You can't expand a program. All you can do is start cutting them back.
"You either make a commitment or you get out of the business. Don't be lukewarm about it."
Ballou said the heart of the budget overrun in this year's budget is the cost of paying officials for the girls pee wee basketball league and boys mites basketball leagues which were implemented for the first time during this past basketball season.
Additional expenses were also incurred when the recreation department implemented a new scholar athlete program for participants in its programs.
Those expenses came in the form of awards given to participants who met certain academic standards while playing in the leagues.
Ballou said the scholar-athlete program was created in an effort to motivate youngsters to achieve higher academic levels in school.
One of the questions that underlie the recreation department's budget situation for the coming fiscal year is equipment replacement costs for the county's youth football program.
"We don't how many kids will be coming into the program this year," Ballou explained.
"I don't know how many kids have torn the pants all to pieces or how many helmets we'll need to replace and that sort of thing.
"Football is a sport in which you must have the proper equipment," he pointed out.
" You can't take any shortcuts there because of safety. It can cost as much as $200 to equip a kid for football."
The budget cut will have a big impact on the county recreation program, Ballou said.
One thing Ballou was adamant about, however, is that he will not cut programs and he will work with whatever budget the Board of Supervisors sends his way.
"I'm going to make it work," Ballou said.
"How, I don't know. But, I'm going to make it."
Ballou is the only full-time recreation department employee.
The department has one part-time employee.
He pointed out that every time the gym is open at the Mary M. Bethune Complex, either he is there or two others are there in his absence.
"It takes two people or myself to supervise the building," Ballou said.
"What I guess I'll have to do is that every time the building is open, I'll have to be there. I'll probably also have to referee all of the volleyball and stuff myself as well.
"Even if I have to referee the games myself, I'm not going to cut programs," Ballou concluded.

Anyone wondering what the strange-looking bright yellow and blue airplanes constantly flying in and out of William M. Tuck Airport early this week were doing need not be concerned.
But, the European Gypsy Moth population should.
U.S. Forest Service personnel, working in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Agriculture, were here this week launching an aerial attack on the Gypsy Moth.
The Gypsy Moth is one of North America's most devastating forest pests and is known to feed on the foliage of hundreds of species of plants.
When densities of Gypsy Moths reach high levels , trees may become completly defoliated.
Mike Quesinberry, a forester based in Christiansburg, said Wednesday flights were being conducted to spray designated areas with a chemical formula known as Hercon Disrupt II, a controlled release dispenser for the Gypsy Moth pheromone.
One of Wednesday's series of flights covered an area adjacent to Staunton River State Park in Halifax County along with an area in Mecklenburg County.
Three blocks of areas surrounding Danville, and one block of area in Franklin County as well as an area near Emporia in Greensville County were also being targeted in Wednesday's flights.
The U.S. Forest Service was also working with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture as three blocks of areas in neighboring localities of North Carolina were also targeted for spraying.
Donna Leonard, a Forest Entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said approximately 500,000 acres have been targeted for treatment in the country and that 160,000 acres have been targeted for treatment in Virginia.
Of Virginia's total, approximately 40,000 acres lies in this general vicinity.
The spraying operation looked like a military operation as planes constantly flew in and out of Tuck Airport.
After landing, the pilots would emerge from the aircraft and personnel would refuel the planes and reload the sprayers and drop bays.
In a few minutes, the pilots would climb aboard once again and take off into the bright blue Halifax County skies.
All of this was done in an area behind the airport hangars out of the view of the general public.
Four application aircraft were being used in the operation.
Two communications planes were also put into the air.
"We put the communications planes over top of the guys (the pilots) as they're treating areas to make sure that nobody from the public (flying an airplane) wondered into our area," Quesinberry said.
The chemical agent used, Disrupt II, is classified as a "low risk" pesticide by the U.S. Environmental protection Agency.
It is a flake-like chemical designed to control low-density populations of the gypsy moth.
A fact sheet describing the chemical states that Disrupt II is not a poison that kills the gypsy moth when applied.
What it does do, however, is disrupt the insect's mating cycles by interfering with the chemical communications between male and female adult moths.
It masks the chemical pheromone emitted by the female moths to attract males for mating.
The pheromone given off by the Disrupt II chemical is specific to the gypsy moth, Leonard said.
"It doesn't affect other insects or anything else," Leonard explained.
"The males won't be able to find the females. Therefore, you won't have mating and you control the population.
"It just alters their behavior and disrupts the mating communications," added Leonard.
The operations at Tuck Airport closed Wednesday afternoon.
Spraying operations by the team will resume June 10 at New River valley Airport in Pulaski.
Approximately 120,000 acres in the western part of the state will be targeted in that operation.

Halifax Town Council approved its proposed $1,249,115 budget and accepted the resignation of one of its members Tuesday night.
Councilman Harold Ray Younger resigned citing a time conflict with his work.
In a letter, Younger explained that his travel schedule with ABB makes it impossible for him to attend many council meetings.
Council may appoint a replacement and has 60 days to take action, Town Manager Robert Greene said.
Younger, an at-large candidate, had served two years of his four-year term.
The FY 2002-2003 budget includes an increase of $12,611, or 1.02 percent, but includes no water/sewer or tax increases.
There is a $5 increase in the vehicle decal fee, taking the full fee to $25.
The budget also includes no increases in employee salaries, but the town will contribute its share of the VRS Retirement Fund to match those benefits of surrounding government agencies.
A breakdown of the general fund of the town's budget shows that 45.7 percent is allocated to the police department with another 24.8 percent going to administration.
The other 29.5 percent is allocated to the trash department (14 percent), the municipal building (5.3 percent) and fire and street departments (5.1 percent each).
Sewer funding for next year is set at $355,200 and funding for the water department is $243,550.

Price Thornton Dalton

Price Thornton Dalton, 72, of Gretna, died May 23 in Gretna Health Care Center.
Born January 31, 1930, in Campbell County, he was a son of the late Whitt Thornton Dalton and Maude Talbott Dalton. Mr. Dalton was a retired farmer and a member of the Church of God of Prophecy, Brookneal.
Survivors include one son, Ralph Dalton of Brookneal; two daughters, Betty Ann Fisher of Brookneal and Linda Hodnett of Gladys; four brothers, Joseph Dalton of Gladys, James Dalton and George Dalton, both of Gretna, and Bennie Dalton of Martinsville; two sisters, Catherine Jones of Gretna and Louise Betterton of Java; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Nannie Kate Clay and Corrine Dawson.
Funeral services for Mr. Dalton will be conducted at 11 a.m. May 25 at Colbert-Moran Funeral Home Chapel in Gretna with the Rev. Chuck Haley officiating. Burial will follow in Mulberry Baptist Church Cemetery.
The family will receive friends this evening from 7:00 until 8:30 at the funeral home, and other times at the home.

Arbella Moore Cole

Arbella Moore Cole, 90, of 1035 Cole Trail, South Boston, died May 22 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mrs. Cole was born in Halifax County on May 15, 1912, the daughter of George Moore and Betty Walker Moore and was married to George Washington Cole. She was a member of St. Luke Apostle Church.
Survivors include two daughters, Lillie Moore of South Boston and Ruby Pannell of Vernon Hill; four stepsons, Frank Cole of South Boston, William Cole of Alexandria, Johnnie Cole of Queens, NY and Arthur Cole of Long Island, NY; two grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; 66 step-grandchildren; five stepdaughters, Bessie Cole, Lena Edmondson, Clarice Hubbard, Dorothy Whitlock and Gladys Hartridge, all of South Boston; and one son-in-law, Minister Hubert Pannell.
Funeral services for Mrs. Cole will be held May 27 at 2 p.m. at Prospect Hill baptist Church in Roxboro, NC with Elder Harry W. Betts Jr. officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home.