|
|
| Officials Will be Asked How to Fund Jail |
| By sequoyahcountytimes.com |
| Published: 07/09/2009 |
|
County officials will be asked how to fund jail Sequoyah County Commissioners asked other elected county officials and Assistant District Attorney John David Luton to attend the regular commission meeting Monday to discuss the county’s ongoing problems with jail funding. The county jail is funded in part by one-sixth of a cent sales tax, which brings in about $30,000 a month, but jail expenses are about $800,000 a year. In the past, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) was paying $31.50 per prisoner per day for the county to house low-risk prisoners. However, DOC has begun removing those prisoners to be housed in other institutions, leaving the county jail with insufficient money to continue operations. County voters voted down an additional one-sixth of a cent sales tax for jail operations last month, and now the jail will have between $45,000 and $46,000 in the bank this month after the bills are paid, District 1 Commissioner Bruce Tabor said. Tabor has said in the past that the county has few options. The jail could be closed and prisoners either released or housed at other jails. The cost of housing county prisoners elsewhere would deplete the jail budget in one day, Tabor said. The jail could be returned to the management of the sheriff, Ron Lockhart, who has said in the past that he would take over jail operations if he has too. However, Tabor pointed out, the county has a $2 million budget in the general fund. The sheriff has a budget of about $500,000 to operate his office. Adding the $800,000 a year needed to run the jail onto the sheriff’s office would take funds away from other offices. That would mean other elected officials will have to lay off staff members because there will be no money to pay them. “What are we going to do?” Tabor asked the other members of the Sequoyah County Criminal Justice Authority, which oversees jail operations, at their meeting Monday. “It will take $1.2 million to $1.3 million to run both the sheriff’s office and the jail. That will take most of the county’s budget.” Tabor and District 3 Commissioner Mike Huff serve on the authority along with Lockhart and Dennis Fields, a retired police officer from the Gore area. “If we transfer the jail to the sheriff’s office, we’re (the county) still going to be broke. It will take 60 days to have another election, but I don’t see this thing passing. And we don’t have anything else going,” Tabor said. Fields said, “Putting the $800,000 on the county, with a $2 million budget…would bring the county to its knees. “But if you close that jail for 90 days, people will be lining up to vote because every prisoner would be OR (released on their own recognizance).” Lockhart pointed out that housing prisoners in other county jails would take up most of the time of his 13 deputies, who would have to be transporting prisoners for court appearances and other reasons. That would leave no deputies to provide protection for county residents. Fields said, “Other counties are having the same problem, and the bad guys will figure it out. They’ll be on it (more crime) in a minute.” To the suggestion that the jail staff be cut back, Christine Calbert, jail administrator, pointed out that DOC requires the jail be fully staffed, no matter how many prisoners are incarcerated in the 114-bed facility. If the jail is not fully staffed, then the state can fine the county for not meeting requirements. At the present time, the county is paying off a fine, at the rate of $3,000 a year for five years, levied when the old county jail did not meet state standards. At that time the fine was about $500,000, but because the county met regulations with the new jail, the fine was reduced. Calbert said the prisoners are required to pay fees for many services at the jail, from booking fees to medical services. But, “Most don’t pay,” she said. Others, in order to remain out of jail, do pay some of those fees, which results in an income of, on the average, about $2,000 a month. Tabor said the county could possibly borrow money to keep the jail open, but both he and Fields pointed out there is no money to pay back the loan. Lockhart said, “If we can do it (keep jail open) any other way, let’s do it. I will take it if I have to, but I’d rather do it some other way. “But, as an elected official, I think I need to save the taxpayers’ money. I’ll do whatever you decide. We don’t have enough money the way it is.” In the same election last month, voters also trounced a one-sixth of a cent sales tax for the sheriff’s office. Read More. |
Comments:
Login to let us know what you think
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
This approach is an excellent content Document personally seen merit to present the software. Propose being very careful the things I needed to work out intend for long term future you should maintain just for stating a very remarkable content. Accountants Crawley