Cowlitz County's director of corrections summarized proposed changes to jail, offender services and concessions budgets, saying the largest driver of an overall increase is an increase in the jail medical contract. Marin Fox told the Board of Commissioners that staff trimmed a number of line items where possible but that medical costs are the primary upward pressure.

Fox said food and drugs budget lines were reduced by $50,000 each, and small tools and professional services were trimmed. Travel and training costs were held steady in part because many of the trainings are required (academy tuition, defensive-tactics vendors and similar costs). The department is using an online background-submission system for recruiting, Fox said, which adds a recurring subscription but has improved application completion rates.

Fox described several operational changes intended to reduce risk and litigation exposure. The jail has implemented wristband photo IDs for inmates and a barcode scanning system for officers to record movements; Fox said the change improves documentation of routines such as yard time and reduces the chance of releasing the wrong person. She also said the county is evaluating biometric cell monitors that would alert staff to dangerous inmate vital signs; the county risk pool offers partial reimbursement covering the initial purchase for about six cells and Fox said the ongoing software cost would be modest.

Fox noted a $400,000 reimbursement the department receives from the state for the MAT/MOUD program, which offsets a portion of the medical contract increase. She also said the department cut two positions during COVID and has not restored them; a vacant work crew officer post is being held in reserve pending program decisions.

On revenues, Fox said booking fees and inmate-phone revenues have increased; she also said pending contracts with cities (Kelso, Woodland, Longview) would raise the per-inmate daily rate by roughly $12$13 per day, but those new contracts had not been signed and were not factored into the current budget figures.

Fox asked the board to note the department's prior position cuts and said staff will return if additional budget requests are required later in the year.

Commissioners asked questions about medical vendors, the background system and how the biometric monitors would be used; Fox said the pilot would focus on intake cells where single-occupancy monitoring is feasible.