A $400,000 shortfall for Two Bridges Regional Jail has kept the Jail Authority sifting the current budget to find ways to cover costs until June.
“We have to look at every penny,” Correctional Administrator Mark Westrum told authority members at their monthly meeting Jan. 14.
“I want to be very up front with you,” he said.
Recently, the authority and administration found budgetary means of allowing 23 staff members to stay and to keep three to four pods open. The cost of unemployment and benefits would have been considerable, Westrum said.
“We’ve cut our operating budget so deep we’re not sending anyone to training,” Westrum said.
For fiscal year 2008-2009 through Dec. 31, the jail took in $2.77 million in revenue but expenses totaled $2.8 million leaving the jail $71,775 in the red so far, according to a report reviewed by the authority.
“If this is really a unified system, the state is going to have to live up to its promises,” Westrum said.
By next week, the jail will have 60 state inmates, an increase of 37 following the authority’s decision to expand the limit to increase revenue. The jail contracted with the state to take on more state inmates at a slight increase to $22 per bed per day.
However, all jails may not be able to charge anything after June 30 Westrum said, based on his understanding of the state Dept. of Correction’s consolidation plans.
