HAYDEN J EMRAH
WZBD.com
At the July 9th Adams County Council meeting, among the usual officials to approach the council, was an additional appropriation request from Ian Gilbert, Executive Director of Adams County Community Corrections and Jack Odle, Chief Probation Officer.
This request, while also asking for funds for the hiring of a new probation officer and the indigent fund for the women’s county corrections, mainly concerned the county’s housing for juvenile probation, which as of the July meeting was $35,075 over budget.
In trying to understand how the budget line item–which is allotted $70,000 annually and has seemingly never required such an increase in funding–could be over budget by around half its funds only six full months into the year, the council asked Gilbert and Sheriff Mawhorr if the additional need for juvenile housing was the result in a change of sentencing structure from the judicial system.
Sheriff Mawhorr replied that the funding discrepancy is the result of an increase in violent juvenile crimes that requires such sentencing, and that the trend is likely an unfortunate outlier that will not likely require an adjustment of funding in the next fiscal year.
Sheriff Mawhorr provided that on average, it costs the county approximately $37.50 to house an adult Adams County resident in a Department of Corrections facility, and around $135 to house a juvenile in an out-of-county facility. Adams County has no juvenile facility, and instead relies on Allen and Delaware Counties for housing services.
“…We’ve had several that they’ve been locked up for months because of what they’ve done, and going through the adjudication process. So, I know that for a fact because we’re [the Adams County Sheriff’s Department] doing the transports for courts, there has been an increase of long term detention for juveniles, it seems like, this year more than in the past,” stated Sheriff Mawhorr regarding the need for additional funding for housing juveniles.
The council then had a chance to speak with Chief Probation Officer Jack Odle, who is ultimately responsible for the supervision of both adult and juvenile offenders who are ordered to probation by the courts, to hear his reasoning for the budgeting discrepancy.
Odle responded that this was an unusual year for the county, and between the lack of a county juvenile detention center and an increase in charges for services provided by both Allen and Delaware Counties, the increase of cost for services and unusual influx in housing requirements has led to total incurred costs of $105,075.
While the council was wary of the funding discrepancy at first, after understanding the unusual circumstances, members of the corrections department nor the county council believe that these increased costs should continue for long, and so appropriated an additional $70,000 in funding to pay off the balance and fund the program for the rest of the year.
Ian Gilbert added that the judges try to put juveniles back with their family as much as possible, but, if a family refuses to rehouse them, then it’s the responsibility of the county.
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of juveniles as well, and I thank that’s as an alternative to placement. Whenever the judges can get them out of placement and onto electronic monitoring as an alternative, they are doing that. But again, there are some that parents will not take them back home, and so, we as a county have to pay for it.”
The request for funding was approved by the council in a 6-0 vote, who agreed to make note to consider the amount to be allotted when planning the budget for the next fiscal year.
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