Kootenai County commissioners approve contracts, audits and fund transfers; authorize fund balance use for jail medical overages

Kootenai County commissioners on an administrative meeting approved a package of contracts, audits and budget transfers and authorized the use of county fund balance to cover substantial jail medical cost overages.

The board voted to authorize $1,351,211.82 from an assigned fund balance to cover jail medical contract and medication overages for the sheriff’s office after Captain Jeremy Hall told the commissioners the jail was overspent and facing additional payments for the remainder of the year. “As of this point, we’re now $228,277.25 overspent with three more payments of $308,322.25 to process for the remainder of the year,” Hall said. Auditor Brandy Falcon told the board the money would come from the assigned fund balance set aside for the facilities master plan.

Why it matters: approving the fund-balance draw removes an immediate shortfall for contracted jail medical services but reduces reserves the county had assigned to its facilities plan.

Other approved items with financial or operational impact included a $134,800 contract with Alpha Services LLC to perform hazard-fuels treatment on 58.5 acres at Tubbs Hill under a FireSmart grant; a $7,435.77 training purchase for the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) Special Investigations Unit to be…