By Dana Wilson and Josh Jarman
The Columbus Dispatch
MOUNT GILEAD, Ohio — Layoff notices sent to Morrow County jail employees last week warned of a shutdown on July 31, but Sheriff Steven R. Brenneman has a backup plan.
He asked county commissioners yesterday to approve a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would help cover operating costs and keep the 126-bed jail open. The jail now holds about 30 inmates and could begin housing 50 or more federal detainees in early August, Brenneman said.
“It’s just a matter of telling them we’re a go with it and finishing the paperwork,” Brenneman said during a meeting yesterday with one of the commissioners. The board is expected to make a decision on the contract in its Monday session.
ICE would pay the sheriff $53.64 per inmate each day under the proposed contract. Renting out beds for 50 inmates would generate $80,460 per month, or $978,930 per year. But there is a catch: Brenneman has 12 corrections officers and needs $135,000 to hire nine more to accommodate the federal inmates.
Commissioner Olen Jackson said the struggling county does not have any money to give but will pursue a bank loan. “It’s the only option we have.”
Morrow County, hit by declines in investment income and sales-tax receipts, is operating with roughly $1.2 million less than last year. The county has saved $9,486 in utility costs since March, when it closed most government offices on Fridays. This month, commissioners asked about 200 workers paid by the general fund to volunteer to take 10 unpaid days off before the year’s end.
In neighboring Marion County, the sheriff’s office recently laid off eight employees, including all six 911 dispatchers.
Meanwhile, Knox County Sheriff David Barber has asked his almost 60 employees to take seven unpaid furlough days before the end of the year to balance his reduced budget. Barber reached an agreement earlier this week with the local Fraternal Order of Police, lodge president Lt. David Shaffer said.
Shaffer said the union members voted to accept the furloughs knowing the alternative likely would have been layoffs for some deputies. He said the hour reductions could mean the office provides only basic levels of service to county residents.
“We’re in the process of reassigning personnel to provide better coverage to jail staff and road patrol,” he said.
Shaffer said the non-union members of the sheriff’s office also will have their work weeks cut, either to 32 or 35 hours a week.
Knox County Commissioner Teresa Bemiller said every county agency was asked to trim 9 percent of its budget last month. For Barber, that would amount to about $200,000, she said.
“If we can, we want to avoid layoffs while keeping levels of service as high as possible,” Bemiller said.
She said with revenue continuing to come in below projections, more cuts to the county budget could be possible in 2010.
Copyright 2009 The Columbus Dispatch