ITEM FILE PHOTO
Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin administers the oath of office Jan. 4 to Kevin Coppinger during his swearing-in as Essex County Sheriff at Lynn Auditorium.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — The first priority for the new sheriff of Essex County is to fix an $18 million budget deficit.
In a presentation to the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, Sheriff Kevin Coppinger said his first days on the job have been spent meeting with the House leadership and the Lynn delegation including Sen. Thomas McGee (D-Lynn) and Rep. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) to supplement his $70 million budget.
“Right now, my payroll will cease in about the second week of March,” he said. “Obviously we need some money pretty quick. If we don’t get the money what will we do?”
Coppinger also fielded a question about the number of halfway houses in Lynn. While the sheriff said he did not know how many such homes operate in Lynn, he stressed that the burden of these facilities, typically in residential neighborhoods, should be located throughout the county.
He agreed that Lynn should do its fair share of providing supportive networks to recently released prisoners, “But they should be equally distributed across Essex County.”
Coppinger said his goals include strengthening skills training and improving and expanding detox, opiate and mental health counseling programs.
During the campaign he touted his skills in law enforcement as a police officer and chief, budgeting and communications and the support he received from fellow law enforcement officials nationwide.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com.