Published: August 19, 2008 11:55 pm      

Sheriff seeks 8 new jail officers

Council must cut $1.6M from budget

The Howard County Council hoped it had financing for the Howard County Jail and the Robert J. Kinsey Youth Center under control after adopting a special county option income tax last year.

A year later, the tax fund is almost tapped out.

The county council last year agreed to cap funding operations of the jail and youth center through property tax collections at $3,086,000, with the remainder coming through a .20 COIT and other revenue sources.

This year, the county has bolstered the jail and youth center operating budget with $250,000 in County Economic Development Income Tax funds; $150,000 in funding for housing state prisoners in the jail; and $730,000 in Kinsey Center collections.

The proposed budget for the two departments for 2009 is $7,259,316 of which $3.4 million is for the operation of the jail and another $1,275,000 for employee benefits at both facilities.

Laurie Martin, chief deputy in the Howard County Auditor’s Office, said the council must cut $1.6 million from the requests to break even.

Currently, there is a balance of $426,658 in the COIT account for the remainder of the year. Martin said Sheriff Marty Talbert is requesting $425,000.

Talbert is asking for additional funding in the 2009 budget for the hiring of eight new part-time correctional officers at an added cost of $70,000 and an increase in overtime funding for next year of $25,000.

Martin said one way for the council to reduce the two budgets is to pay for the benefits of the employees from the county’s general fund, a cost of $1,275,000 in 2009.

“The council will have to take a hard long at these budgets,” Martin said.

At the last council meeting in July, several council members expressed concerns about using general fund money to supplement the two budgets.

Ken de la Bastide can be reached at (765) 454-8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com