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| Snohomish County jail earns high marks |
| By Noah Haglund |
| Published: 04/20/2009 |
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EVERETT -- Three months into a shotgun marriage between the Snohomish County jail and the sheriff's office, the honeymoon is off to a good start. With the two law enforcement functions under one roof, overtime for corrections officers has dropped to about half of last year's levels. Labor grievances have tapered off dramatically. And jail management has reported trimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from its payroll since the department moved from County Executive Aaron Reardon's office. A progress report to the County Council this week brought glowing praise. "The key priority is, are things going well at the jail?" said County Councilman Dave Gossett, who leads the council's law and justice committee. "Are things running smoothly, and do we have a system that's doing what it needs to do in term of our budget? The answer, right now, is yes." In November, the Council voted 4-1 to disband the corrections department. On Jan. 1, the jail's 360 workers joined Sheriff John Lovick's roster as the Corrections Bureau. With the merger, Lovick oversees the largest county department, with about 720 employees -- about a quarter of all county workers. Initially, there was some trepidation about the merger, Gossett said, because some doubted it would help run the jail more efficiently and save money. It's still early, but he likes what he sees. Only Councilman John Koster opposed the change at the time, saying there hadn't been enough time to research the issue. The sheriff asked for quarterly updates. The first one came last week. The results were important for the county financially, because of the jail's budget of well over $30 million. All told, public safety departments, attorneys and courts account for about 70 percent of Snohomish County's roughly $200 million general fund budget. Savings estimates from the merger weren't available last week, but comparisons between the first quarters of 2009 and 2008 might show what direction things appear to be headed. Sick leave for jail workers, who now are called custody deputies, has dipped 8 percent, mandatory overtime by 90 percent, and total overtime by 50 percent. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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