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Jackson County officials plugged a hole in the jail budget Monday, but the financial problem isn’t over yet.
“This is a one-time Band-Aid approach to get us through,” the county’s chief administrative officer, Shelley Temple-Kneuvean, told county legislators on Monday.
The county recently sold the state a sliver of land on the edge of the Truman Sports Complex property. The state is widening Interstate 70 and needs the land. That meant a windfall to the county of $455,000. The money goes to the county’s general fund, meaning it can be spent as county officials see fit, but officials concede that it’s a one-time, unexpected revenue source.
The county has a tight budget this year, and Temple-Kneuvean said the administration identitied the jail a top priority as savings or new renenues turned up. Overall, she said, the county is looking at a $700,000 to $800,000 shortfall in the Department of Corrections. Costs are up because the county took on jailing operations from Kansas City last year in a step toward greater regionalism and to get greater scales of efficiency, which should help control costs. Kansas City now pays the county for its inmates. In the process, the county added about 60 employees.
Temple-Kneuvean was chided by Legislator Bob Spence, R-Lee’s Summit, for not bringing the funding gap to legislators’ attention in late 2009 when they were discussing and adopting the 2010 county budget.
“I understand the problem, Shelley. What I don’t understand is why we weren’t informed,” he said.
Temple-Kneuvean said local judges are aware of the situation and looking at ways to reduce the jail population. She said some positions have been left open and that the county is looking to the state for more money. Although officials are taking several approaches to the problem, she said, it’s possible the administration will come back at some point this year and ask for another $200,000 to $300,000.
“We are watching it very closely,” she said.
Jackson County officials plugged a hole in the jail budget Monday, but the financial problem isn’t over yet.
“This is a one-time Band-Aid approach to get us through,” the county’s chief administrative officer, Shelley Temple-Kneuvean, told county legislators on Monday.
The county recently sold the state a sliver of land on the edge of the Truman Sports Complex property. The state is widening Interstate 70 and needs the land. That meant a windfall to the county of $455,000. The money goes to the county’s general fund, meaning it can be spent as county officials see fit, but officials concede that it’s a one-time, unexpected revenue source.
The county has a tight budget this year, and Temple-Kneuvean said the administration identitied the jail a top priority as savings or new renenues turned up. Overall, she said, the county is looking at a $700,000 to $800,000 shortfall in the Department of Corrections. Costs are up because the county took on jailing operations from Kansas City last year in a step toward greater regionalism and to get greater scales of efficiency, which should help control costs. Kansas City now pays the county for its inmates. In the process, the county added about 60 employees.
Temple-Kneuvean was chided by Legislator Bob Spence, R-Lee’s Summit, for not bringing the funding gap to legislators’ attention in late 2009 when they were discussing and adopting the 2010 county budget.
“I understand the problem, Shelley. What I don’t understand is why we weren’t informed,” he said.
Temple-Kneuvean said local judges are aware of the situation and looking at ways to reduce the jail population. She said some positions have been left open and that the county is looking to the state for more money. Although officials are taking several approaches to the problem, she said, it’s possible the administration will come back at some point this year and ask for another $200,000 to $300,000.
“We are watching it very closely,” she said.
