Housing federal inmates is earning Pulaski County some extra money, but it’s also led to a slight shortfall in its budget for part-time jail staff.
Sheriff Jeff Richwine explained to the county commissioners Monday that the revenue and expenses come from different parts of the budget. “The money that the jail generates, which is going to be almost easily $300,000 this year, goes to the General Fund,” he said, “and it doesn’t go to this Part-Time Jailer Fund.”
To fix the problem, Richwine is asking to transfer over $1,800 from Overtime into Part-Time Jailers. The commissioners voiced their support for that and several other budget transfer requests Monday.
The sheriff stressed that the cost of housing federal inmates is relatively minor, compared to the revenue that may be brought in. He said those opportunities stand to increase, if state lawmakers proceed with plans to get some pretrial detainees out of county jails. “I think there’s a potential there, then, to get more of these federal inmates. If we double the amount of federal inmates that we have in the jail now, we’d be making a million dollars a year – or grossing. It’s not making – grossing a million dollars a year.”
Richwine said the plan to get nonviolent pretrial detainees out of local jails has the support of many of the state’s sheriffs.
