The sheriff’s office presented a detailed annual update at the Aug. 5 Law and Judiciary Committee meeting that described operational successes in 2024 and pressed the committee on long-standing county jail capacity, staffing and funding issues.

Sheriff (name not specified) told the committee the county jail’s average daily population has risen and that, as of the presentation, the Lake County Jail held 621 people. The sheriff said 147 inmates were housed under an intergovernmental arrangement in McHenry County under a contract originally negotiated to house up to 150 inmates at $100 per inmate per day. He characterized the transfer decision as an authority granted by state statute that he exercised for staff and inmate safety after discussing the situation with the state's attorney and local judges. The sheriff said he had attempted to notify the county board about his intent prior to the transfer.

The sheriff and his command staff described operational pressures: some people have been held pretrial for extended periods (the presentation referenced people waiting two years and in some cases nine years for trial, with COVID-related and high-profile-case delays noted), and jail medical transports and in-hospital custody created substantial overtime demands. The business manager provided a figure shown in the presentation for FY24 overtime-related costs of $48,000 (clarified in discussion as dollars, not hours). The sheriff said correctional staffing losses have outpaced hires: from 2018 through July 2025 the department hired 167 employees and lost 217, a net deficit of about 50 positions. As of July 1, 2025, the sheriff said 27 hires had been made in that fiscal year.

Sheriff’s staff also described an array of mitigation steps and budget offsets tied to the McHenry contract and other measures: a reported 52% decrease in overtime hours during certain periods tied to the contract and training cadence, and one-time savings examples the business manager cited such as ADP (average daily population) reductions credited at $137,490, meal-cost reductions at $163,000 and FICA savings of $115,000. The sheriff referenced a National Institute of Corrections figure used in the presentation for an average daily cost per inmate of $168.23.

Committee members used the briefing to discuss long-term options. The sheriff asked the county board to consider allowing the county to modify the language of a quarter-percent RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) sales-tax fund resolution so a portion of the RTA quarter-percent sales-tax revenue could be used as an alternate fund stream for public-safety capital projects. The sheriff said Lake County currently has a large RTA quarter-percent sales-tax balance and that other collar counties had used the funds for public safety after having their own gas-tax revenue; county officials on the panel noted that Lake County recently enacted a 4-cent county gas tax and that the DOT must often hold funds until full project budgets are available.

Members and sheriff’s staff discussed facility options, including possible construction of a new public safety building in Libertyville, renovation of the Babcock Center for expanded medical housing and the challenges of modifying a facility designed for direct supervision. Director Carl Carr (Facilities and Construction Services) and county staff told the committee there is cash set aside and that design work for a multi-use public safety building concept has been initiated, with design firms under consideration.

Committee members broadly acknowledged the sheriff’s safety rationale and the complexity of staffing and facilities decisions. Several members encouraged a longer-term review of the jail model, staffing pipeline and capital alternatives during the county budget and planning cycle.

Why it matters: The county’s jail population, extended pretrial detentions and staffing shortfalls have operational, legal and fiscal implications. The sheriff’s use of an out-of-county contract and the committee’s consideration of repurposing transportation sales-tax revenues for public safety are potential multi-million-dollar policy choices with long-term effects on county facilities and budgets.

What’s next: Staff will continue to brief committees; the county board and finance committees will consider capital planning, and the sheriff said he is open to further discussions about facility design and funding.