State Rep. Todd Novak (R–Dodgeville) announced Monday that the Joint Finance Committee moved to approve his request for funds to increase drug enforcement in Lafayette County.
The request received bipartisan support and was accepted unanimously by the budget-writing committee late last week.
“One of the reasons I ran for office was to fight rural crime and drug use,” said Novak. “I believe it’s important to give law enforcement the tools they need to fight this ongoing problem. I wanted to focus on Lafayette County first because they are the only county in my district that doesn’t belong to a drug task force and the sheriff’s department has a very limited budget.”
The proposal presented by Novak would provide the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department with $100,000 ($50,000 per year for two years). The money is to be dedicated to drug law enforcement and will enable the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department to work with surrounding counties to battle this growing problem in Southwest Wisconsin. Without using state tax dollars, the money for Lafayette County will be generated from the crime lab and drug enforcement surcharge, and the DNA surcharge.
Novak added the money will allow the Sheriff’s Department the flexibility to dedicate more resources to drug enforcement in the county. Novak said he appreciated the help and support of Sheriff Reg Gill when he was formulating the budget motion.
“I would also like to thank Joint Finance Committee member Sen. Howard Marklein for his help in advocating for this proposal,” said Novak. “I was honored it was passed with bipartisan support.”