Sheriff warns of rising jail medical costs and proposes food-service reductions to meet budget cuts

The sheriff presented the law-enforcement and detention budgets and identified two personnel-related cuts the office proposes: not filling two county-funded positions (projected base-salary savings about $104,000) and reducing the jail food/boarding line by $44,000 to approach minimum meal requirements.

The sheriff said the detention medical contract went out to bid and that bids are due in late July; he asked commissioners to budget conservatively because the county does not yet know the final contract price and he included an estimated $850,000 line for jail medical pending bid results. He described the county’s current medical arrangement (16 hours per day of on-site nursing coverage with additional telehealth and psychiatric services) and explained that some inpatient and off-site care episodes are billed to inmates and others may be county obligations depending on circumstances.

County attorney Jennifer told commissioners there is a pending dispute with Ivinson Memorial Hospital about billing and whether the county or individual inmates are responsible; the hospital’s current claim for services from February 2022 through January 2025 totals $760,937.12. Counsel said the county has filed a response and the matter remains in litigation; the outcome could create a material county obligation but is unresolved.

On the jail food line, the sheriff proposed reducing hot meals to the statutory minimum of one hot meal per day and adjusting menus to contain more cost-effective proteins and soups while maintaining calories and nutrition; he estimated an aim to reduce the per-meal cost toward a target around $2 per meal where feasible. Commissioners did not take a formal vote; they asked staff to provide more detail and to track reimbursements (for city inmates and other partners) that offset detention costs.