At the budget workshop held Nov. 17, the Cache County Sheriff’s Office announced it was asking the council for a budget of $13,762,000 on top of a $700,000 increase in revenue so it can work to improve the county jail.
In 2014 the sheriff’s office requested a budget of $13,737,000.
“We have to plan for the future,” Jensen said. “As soon as the new prison opens in Draper, our inmate population will shrink and our revenue will decrease significantly. We have to take care of the jail and fix it up while the money is available.”
While all county departments receive the bulk of their funding through Cache County tax revenues allocated by the county council, they are able to generate additional revenues from non-tax sources.
In 2014 the sheriff’s office had a revenue of $3,855,185, compared to $4,573,492 in 2015.
The Sheriff’s Office has been able to spend its extra money to make improvements to the jail and to purchase a snowcat for its search and rescue team, expenditures which might have otherwise gotten bogged down in the County Council budgeting process.
Sheriff Chad Jensen attributed the income change to an increase in the inmate population, an increase in daily fees paid to house federal inmates and an increase in fee generating rehabilitation programs.
The Cache County jail population increased from 40 inmates in January to 71 inmates in June, while the daily fees to house federal inmates increased from $47 to $58. The state pays daily fees of $60 per inmate to fund rehabilitation programs.
“The more inmates we have, the more money we make on our own, leaving more for the council to use for other purposes,” Jensen said.
The Cache County Attorney’s Office reported non-tax revenue of $356,735 which was slightly more than $345,894 in 2014.
“99 percent of our budget goes to employee pay and benefits, so what extra we have we used to hire a private investigator to help us do our jobs better,” said James Swink, the county attorney.
The Attorney’s Office is funded with a Victims of Crime Act grant, a Violence Against Women Act grant, its contract with the city of Logan and its funding from the Cache County Council.
The final budget for the Attorney’s Office has yet to be announced due to several salary discrepancies, but it will be finalized before the 2016 budget is completed.
“We are very pleased that all of our county departments are running well and not spending excessively,” said Cory Yeates, a Cache County council member. “It’s very un-government like.”
The 2016 county budget is set to be finalized at the Dec. 8 county council meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment