Prisoners paying off in tight budget times

The revenue produced by Cape Girardeau County's prisoner housing agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service increased by $139,308 in 2003, an encouraging sign for a county that is seeing its bottom line go in the other direction.

In total, the prisoner housing agreement brought $810,426 to the county in 2003. The money is deposited into the general revenue fund and dispersed to all county departments, but county officials say the revenue offsets the expensive sheriff's department.

The combined sheriff and jail budget for 2004 is $3.16 million.

The 2004 budget is tighter than in recent years because the county will spend more than it brings in this year, which county officials say is a result of the economic downturn finally catching up to them.

There was enough money on hand from 2003 to balance this year's budget, and the county has $5 million in reserves for a major disaster or for some capital improvements. This year, the county will not add to the reserves, although Auditor David Ludwig said the county is required by statute to hold back 5 percent, or $490,000, of its annual budget for emergencies. That reserve usually gets rolled over from year to year.

The county charges the Marshals Service $50.82 per day to house federal prisoners in the jail. Sheriff John Jordan said the jail averages about 45 federal prisoners per day now, compared to about 35 last year.

The county has agreed to make 42 beds available, while the Marshals Service has agreed to give the county at least 33 prisoners every day if they're available.

County officials don't expect the increase in federal inmates to stop anytime soon.

Once Cape Girardeau's federal courthouse is built and a new magistrate court is established, the county could see about a 20 percent increase in federal prisoners.

"Whether we can accommodate that many depends on our in-house population," Jordan said.

In 2003, the jail average was 174 prisoners, including the federal inmates. The jail can hold 152 prisoners in the new section of the jail and 60 in the old section for a total of 212.

Recently, Jordan and the county commission came to an agreement to hire an additional part-time officer to help handle the transports of prisoners to and from court.

The transportation agreement with the Marshals Service is critical to the increased number of federal prisoners. Although the transportation part of the agreement itself accounts only for about $29,000, it's worth about $130,000 in the housing agreement because prisoners stay extra days in the jail while waiting to be transported to federal prison.

In 2002, the county received about $770,000 in reimbursements for prisoners, but Jordan said some of that money came from Scott County, which had not yet constructed its jail. Of the 2002 total, about $670,000 came from federal reimbursement, Jordan said, meaning the county collected an extra $139,000 from the federal agreement.

Hard to figure extra costs

The extra prisoners come with extra cost, but Jordan said it would be difficult to determine exactly how much more. The jail and a jail staff would have to be maintained whether or not the federal prisoners were there.

The federal agreement was the reason the county decided to build the jail in the first place. Originally, the county hoped the federal fees would cover the $450,000 annual bond payments, but the agreement has proved to be able to bring in more.

Before the county built a jail, it was paying other institutions up to $340,000 to house county inmates. In 2003, the sheriff's and jail's expenditures were roughly $59,000 under budget.

Ludwig likes to see trends like the federal marshals agreement because it gives him more flexibility to provide money for services such as 4-H, senior programs and public transit. He said the county, while in a a tight financial situation, is maintaining many services that other counties are having to cut.

"We're trying to find all the ways we can to increase revenue and cut costs," he said.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635