Lewisburg leaders to seek Tennessee Highway Safety traffic grant for enforcement and equipment

Lewisburg’s mayor and council agreed to place on next Tuesday’s agenda a resolution authorizing staff to submit an application to the Tennessee Highway Safety Office for a Police Traffic Services (PTS) grant, a program Chief Scott Braden said can provide up to $100,000 with no local match.

Braden told the council the PTS grant is often requested at about $80,000 and is a 50/50 grant: roughly half must be used for overtime pay for traffic enforcement and half may be used for equipment such as radar units and radar trailers. He cautioned the grant does not cover employer benefit costs (FICA, retirement), so the city would still incur some personnel-related expenses if the maximum award were used for overtime.

Braden also said that if a jurisdiction is not awarded the PTS grant it commonly receives an alternate high-visibility enforcement grant (HVE) that recently has been in the $8,000 range; the smaller HVE has different usage rules (roughly an 80/20 equipment/overtime ratio). Deputy Treasurer Debbie Montgomery clarified estimated benefit costs for an $80,000 request would leave the city responsible for roughly $7,000 in benefits if half of the requested funds were used for overtime.

The council did not vote on the application at the work session; members agreed without objection to put the resolution on the regular meeting agenda for formal consideration and potential authorization.

The next step for the council is formal action during the regular meeting; if approved the city will submit the application and await THSO’s award decision, which is not guaranteed.