County commissioners were given updated, but not final, figures for revenue tied to housing inmates under contracts and directed staff to model budgets conservatively until bed counts and contract terms are finalized.

Why it matters: the county built additional correctional capacity in part to house contracted inmates; anticipated state or federal contract revenue was a material offset in the draft budget. If that revenue is lower than projected, the county will need to identify cuts or use reserves.

Staff initially showed a projection that included about $2.62 million in new contract revenue related to inmate housing. Later in the meeting staff and the sheriff’s office said negotiations with the state were not finalized and that a reduced bed count proposal from the state would lower the likely lease revenue to roughly $2.19 million if the county models 60 contracted beds instead of 72.

Sheriff’s office representatives told the board the facility is already operating near capacity for local inmates and that opening additional pods or beds requires both staffing and state approvals. The sheriff’s office said it can fill beds from other contracts for higher per‑bed rates (U.S. Marshals, ICE, other counties) but cautioned that staffing and operational costs — deputies, transport, vehicles and equipment — must be included in any revenue modeling.

Commissioners said they prefer a conservative approach: budget using 60 beds at the lowered contract estimate and rely on existing prisoner board receipts (staff cited about $1.1 million in recurring prisoner board revenue) as a base; treat additional state lease revenues as provisional until a signed contract is in hand. Commissioners also discussed using projected lease revenues to pay down bonds taken to finance correctional center construction; staff confirmed the commission previously discussed applying lease proceeds to debt service but said no contractual numbers were finalized.

Quotations and context: a sheriff’s office representative said, “We can fill those beds... we're currently we're still stressed to the max with how many people we have in there.” Chair Schneider urged a conservative forecast: “If we put in 60 beds, I'm fine with knocking 12 beds off to play it safe.” Nothing was final and the commission directed staff to model a conservative revenue case for the upcoming budget vote.