FIRST ON 3: How much does it cost to fly the NHC Sheriff’s Dept. chopper?

NEW HANOVER COUNTY – New Hanover County department heads will present new budget plans to commissioners tomorrow, but where will they cut? Sheriff Ed McMahon says the choices have been difficult. Some of our viewers say the cuts should begin at the highest levels… literally.

The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is trying to cut $1 million out of its budget. A lot of you have written in asking why they don’t sell their helicopter. Sheriff Ed McMahon and the pilot of “Sheriff Air One” say the chopper is an asset worth keeping.

“Selling the helicopter would not help with the dilemma we have with the budget,” says Sheriff McMahon. Operating, fueling and maintaining the helicopter is paid for solely with drug seizure money. Right now the Sheriff’s office has about $66,000 in the drug fund. The sheriff can sell the helicopter in July. But if he does, McMahon says it wouldn’t help out the general budget.

“We can’t use the drug money to supplement my regular budget. But what that would mean is we would have more money to do more training perhaps get more equipment than normally we would be able to get,” says Sheriff McMahon.

The chopper was purchased before Sheriff McMahon took office. The department spent $93,000 on it last year. So far this fiscal year, the Sheriff has spent $17,000 on the helicopter. He also cut down about $7,000 on the helicopter’s insurance and housing.

The concern is whether the county needs it. Wilmington Police has two helicopters called “SABLE” they share with Leland Police and the Pender County Sheriff’s Office and state and federal agencies when they need it. Brunswick county has its own chopper too. Some of our viewers say we don’t need another one, especially if “Sheriff Air One” only flies six to eight hours per week.

Last year “Sheriff Air One” flew about 215 hours at a direct operating cost of less than $100 per hour.

We asked the sheriff’s pilot if it would make sense to share a chopper with other agencies since they use it so little. He would not comment. The Wilmington Police Department said it would be happy for the Sheriff to join the multi-agency SABLE helicopter program.

New Hanover County Commissioners will hold a budget work session tomorrow morning at the old courthouse in downtown Wilmington.