Jake, who presented the detention-home (DHOME) budget to the committee on Sept. 30, said DHOME’s expenses are largely pass-through and reimbursable, which helps explain a cash balance approaching $3 million.

He reviewed modest increases to line items that reflect uncertain utility rates, insurance transfers and contractual services. The packet shows a FY26 request amount of about $1.903 million in operating expenses for DHOME (an increase of about 1.6% in the presentation), and revenue projections that reflect the county’s receipt of reimbursements for therapy and payroll-related reimbursements from other counties in the judicial circuit.

Jake told the committee the DHOME cash balance is high because most of the costs the facility incurs are reimbursed by state or partner-county sources. Committee members asked whether reimbursements are at risk; Jake said some reimbursement lines (for example, orphanage-tuition or other state flows) could fluctuate but that the DHOME had been receiving near-full reimbursements to date.

Committee members discussed whether the department should spend down reserves for capital or operational investments and whether to use reserve funds for wage or retention incentives; Jake and others suggested that any change should be balanced against the risk of reduced future reimbursements and potential changes in state funding. No capital authorizations or final actions were taken at the Sept. 30 session.