Probation director outlines budget increases, program changes and grant opportunities

Probation Director Jerry Faucet told the Pine County Board of Commissioners on the county's 2026 budget that the county's CPO reimbursement "went up again this year" and described several revenue, program and policy pressures the department faces.

Faucet said the county's reimbursement increase produced a $41,000 change after the Department of Corrections deducted costs for interstate compact paperwork and staff. He also warned county officials that local corrections fees are scheduled to sunset in 2029 under current legislative timing: "corrections fees are still going to be collected statewide till, I think, at least 2029," Faucet said.

The changes matter because county probation revenue supports local monitoring and programming. Faucet told commissioners the county is projecting lower revenue from local corrections fees because collections have declined in recent years and because the Legislature has scheduled a sunset. He also described several line items in his budget: a contracted juvenile bed at the East Central Regional Juvenile Center is budgeted at $400 per day for one bed annually (budgeted at $150,000), training and association dues are increasing to meet newly required statewide deliverables, and certain operational fees and database costs are rising.

Faucet discussed alternatives used to avoid costly jail stays, describing remote electronic alcohol monitoring (REAM) as a lower-cost way to remove defendants from jail and monitor them in the community. He said county indigency support for REAM began as a local line item after state monitoring grant levels fell: "I developed this indigency fund line item'because we were getting dangerously close of running out of money for that grant per year," Faucet said. For 2026 he said he proposes keeping an indigency line at $5,000 while noting his county allotment under a DOC grant had been $6,500 and previously $9,500 in earlier years.

Faucet also reported a restorative-practices grant pursued by county staff and the county attorney''he credited county attorney Reese for work on the application'that would start Sept. 1 for 18 months and is worth $244,000. He said the grant would cover some youth incentives and programming previously paid from probation budgets. In addition, Faucet said he had issued RFPs for potential juvenile services using other grant pools, noting $400,000 available through Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) and an additional $1.2 million in Department of Justice funds as potential sources.

On program delivery models, Faucet described ongoing statewide negotiations about delivery systems (county probation-operated CPO, county-contracted CCA, and Department of Corrections direct delivery). He advised the board that statutory process governs selection of delivery systems and that Commissioner of Corrections cannot unilaterally force a change. He also said staff are preparing to meet new CSAC (community services advisory committee) deliverables that will require more training statewide; Faucet said that is increasing training costs and prompting efforts to pool training resources across delivery systems.

Faucet and commissioners also discussed ignition interlock versus remote alcohol monitoring for DWI offenders. Faucet described ignition interlock as the device that "you have to blow into a tube as you get into your car," paid by the offender, and distinct from the ankle-based electronic monitors probation uses.

Meeting discussion: commissioners asked about reserve use and whether excess departmental funds could be banked; Faucet said reserves have been used selectively in past years. Commissioners also pressed for figures on prior reserve balances for the board's review.

Ending: Faucet asked commissioners to weigh membership decisions for regional juvenile center contracts and training investments as the county adjusts to new state deliverables and smaller grant allocations.