Great article—It appears from the discussion that the sheriff is renting out the jail to other counties/government and the county does not even know if the jail is covering the additional costs of these prisoners.
County Deficit
Reaches
$434,000
When it came time for Boone County’s 2010 financial
report for May, County Board Finance Committee Chairman
Karl Johnson (District 2) attempted some levity with, “Ken,
tell us the good news.”
Before he addressed the gravity of the situation, County
Administrator Ken Terrinoni answered “Let’s move on to
the next item. We’re still in a recession that affects your
critical revenues. I don’t see that turning around this fiscal
year. It’s virtually all your taxes, your income tax, your
replacement tax.” Terrinoni recited the litany of revenue
sources that remain depressed. “Your income tax is off the
most,” Terrinoni said.
Committee members asked for Terrinoni’s best estimate
for the current deficit and he replied, “$434,000 is the current
estimate.” He also said, “The transfer that was voted down
by the board is obviously not in the general fund anymore,”
Terrinoni said.
County board Representative Cathy Ward (District 2)
referred to last month’s county board vote denying the
transfer of Jail Bond Funds. Denial of that transfer served
to increase the deficit from almost $234,000 to the new
estimate of $434,000. “Ken if the board chooses can they
put that back in there?” asked Ward.
“I think it can be,” said Terrinoni. “You’d have to check
with the state’s attorney on procedural issues, if that falls
under your rules as a ‘procedural reconsideration.’”
Terrinoni continued by saying that there is another
$150,000 budgeted for transfer from the fund, the final
payment for Fiscal Year 2010. Terrinoni explained that the
county has been trying to decrease the amount of money
transferred in from the Jail Bond Fund for several years.
Addressing the concern of taxpayers and the people that
represent them, Terrinoni offered to come up with a written
plan to sunset the tax.
“I’d be more than willing to write up a proposal,” said
Terrinoni. “In fact, two years ago I did write up a proposal
that did exactly that [by 2018]; the proposal did that. Of
course this recession did change that to some degree.”
“I think [there is] something that gets lost in this
whole process of the money getting utilized,” said Johnson.
“The board at that time failed to realize...they’d need the
money to staff that jail at the same time. It was determined
by the then state’s attorney, that the money could be used to
staff the jail. Then we realized we needed to wean ourselves
off of that.”
County board Chairman Bob Walberg (District 1)
questioned the current capacity of the jail. “Is there another
section we could be operating that would support the jailers
and then we wouldn’t need this money?” asked Walberg.
“There is a section, but there weren’t people
(detainees) so we even ended up laying-off two people
(officers),” said Johnson.
“The issue was whether or not we should keep taking the
additional prisoners; if it was just a break even deal,” said
Ward, who served on the board at that time. “It wasn’t just
additional revenue, it was additional expense. It was passed
by just one vote. The pay for the personnel, even without
the step increases...” Ward said.
The idea of leasing jail space to other municipalities and the federal government has brought in additional revenue. Lt. John Hare, administrator of the county jail has shown marked increases in that revenue stream into the general fund.
At the previous night’s meeting of the county board Public Safety Committee, county board members recalled Hare’s financial report that indicated revenues were up.
“The revenues could not be called income, but just revenue, so we still don’t know where we are at when we are done covering expenses?” asked county Representative Paul Larson
(District 2). “We don’t actually know for sure if it’s a break even situation or not,” said Ward.
Terrinoni reminded the committee that he had offered to bring the numbers in for analysis.
“You’ll need that for your [Fiscal Year 2011] budget anyway,” said Terrinoni. “I don’t think
I am hearing anybody against having me write up a phase-out plan.”
Unanimous consent was offered and Terrinoni was asked to present two repayment
scenarios that included sunset of the Public Safety Sales Tax by 2014, or later by 2018.
“I am hesitant to mention this, but there has been some discussion to add on to the Public
Safety Building...to increase for needed space,” said Larson. “Once this is solved, will we
come back to this? It hasn’t been talked about in a while, but I think it is still needed.”
County Representative Kathy Hartwig (District 1) stated her views. “I would remind
the committee of the promised sunset. It was a previous board who promised this tax would sunset. It was promised the voters that it would sunset in 2018. I think we should ask the voters what they want us to do.”
“We were talking about an advisory referendum at a previous meeting,” said Terrinoni.
“I think it was a local resident who brought that up; Laura Guerin Hunt.”
County Representative Marshall Newhouse (District 1) expressed his own perspective
with, “Having gone to the community with a referendum and to try and do an end run we
would end up in the hot seat.
Ward offered that she understood why Larson brought up the issue. “But, the city is in
trouble for doing this,” said Ward. “We need to make sure what we are doing this in today’s
financial crisis. We have people coming in and crying because they can’t pay their taxes. I
have talked to people who want to know what could happen. I don’t think we’ve really seen
the worst of it yet. We need some type of what if scenario. Otherwise, people are going to lose their jobs and positions who don’t need to. We’ve done this before, what’s the “worst case scenario? Ken, can you write that up for us?”
“I’d be happy to do that, in fact, I’d like to do it at the front end of your process,” said
Terrinoni. “I could do the base line and then the possible worst case and work realistic
numbers on either and compare that with a possible appropriation estimate.”
Larson and Hartwig indicated that to sunset the tax earlier than later could save interest
on the debt. “I think that would affect what date we are going to put a sunset on that Public
Safety Sales Tax,” said Larson.
See the article for yourself at: http://boonecountyjournal.com/news/2010/Boone-County-News-06-11-10.pdf#page=4
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