Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb has accused the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety of not providing funding it previously granted to Pinal County’s Holiday DUI task force.
“We submitted a request this year, for $150,000. We were approved,” Lamb said. “However, when the time came to receive that, we had never gotten any of the paperwork or the contracts.”
On their website in July, Pinal County announced they had received grant funding for the holiday DUI task force.
Last week, Governor Hobbs disputed those claims.
“I think he might be confused,” Hobbs told reporters. “He’s responding to a letter that came from the director around some new standards, but we haven't made any grant announcements.”
But in October, Maricopa County told ABC15 they received a grant “in the amount of $187,385 and will help deputies with overtime pay and impaired driving training for this next fiscal year while working and supporting valley-wide dui task forces.”
Lamb worries Pinal County is the victim of a budget cut.
“I’m a fiscal conservative,” Lamb said. ”But cutting out of things that have been allocated for a DUI task force for keeping our streets safe? I think the majority of Arizonans would agree, this is not the place we want to cut.”
Lamb says this program is personal to him. On Dec. 16, 2022, an impaired driver crashed into a car with Lamb’s son, daughter-in-law, and their young daughter inside. The crash killed all three.
“It's been a hard year for us,” Lamb told ABC15. “When we get towards this time, it's especially difficult.”
Lamb and the director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety are scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss the funding.
