Bonner County commissioners press probation, detention staff to clarify budgets, add contingency and separate adult/juvenile funds

Bonner County commissioners on Monday reviewed proposed budgets for the county probation office and the juvenile detention facility and directed staff to provide clearer, line-by-line justifications, add modest contingency funding, and separate adult misdemeanor fee revenue from juvenile funding sources.

The commissioners—led by Chair Powell—heard a detailed walk-through of the probation and detention budgets from department leadership. Director Schulz said the county must treat the two budgets separately: “we do have 2 distinct budgets. We have the probation budget, which is the 1 we're gonna start with today, and we have the detention budget. The probation budget is under district court, and the detention budget is under justice... they are totally different and distinct budgets,” she said.

Why it matters: Staff and commissioners said past practice of shifting money between lines or relying on unpredictable off-budget revenue has left some routine operating costs underfunded and made year-over-year comparison difficult. The workshop aimed to produce a more transparent base budget so future requests for increases are documented and justified.

Most important items - Training and travel: Staff said probation and detention officers must meet POST training requirements (a minimum of about 20 certified hours per year) and that recent academy attendance and other conference costs have left the training line underfunded. The group directed staff to document…