(a) The Sheriff of Jefferson County is authorized to operate a jail store for inmates within the confines of the Jefferson County Detention Facility and Annexes. The jail store shall be operated to serve the needs of the county jail population.
(b) All monies collected under subsection (a) shall be deposited by the Sheriff of Jefferson County or the appointed agent of the sheriff in any bank located in Jefferson County selected by the sheriff into a fund known as the Sheriff’s Commissary Fund.
(c) The Sheriff’s Commissary Fund as provided in subsection (b) shall be drawn upon by the Sheriff of Jefferson County or the appointed agent of the sheriff and shall be used for the betterment of law enforcement or in the interest thereof or in the public’s interest in the discharge of the office of the sheriff, as the sheriff sees fit.
(d) All monies collected, if any, as outlined in subsection (a) prior to September 11, 1997, shall be transferred into the Sheriff’s Commissary Fund created by subsection (b).
(e) Any funds spent for the betterment of law enforcement or in the interest thereof accruing from any jail store operated by the former or present Sheriff of Jefferson County prior to September 11, 1997, are ratified and confirmed as legal expenditures and, if necessary to carry out the purposes of this subsection, seven thousand one hundred dollars ($7,100) is hereby appropriated from the monies transferred under subsection (d) to the Sheriff of Jefferson County.
(f) The establishment of the Sheriff’s Commissary Fund and the use of the funds shall in no way diminish or take the place of any other source of income established for the sheriff or the operation of the office.
(g) The Department of Examiners of Public Accounts is authorized to audit the monies annually and submit a copy of the audit to the sheriff within 30 days of its completion.