Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Criminal Justice Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Correctional Treatment Facility requests 9.9% budget increase, cites rising food and medical costs
Summary
The Lucas County Correctional Treatment Facility asked the Board of Commissioners for about $184,000 in additional funding for the 2026 budget, saying increases are driven by higher food and medical expenses and bargaining-unit cost-of-living adjustments.
The Lucas County Correctional Treatment Facility presented a budget request for 2026 seeking approximately $184,000 more than its 2025 approved budget, an increase the presenter described as about 9.9 percent. The facility attributed most of the increase to higher food-service costs, increased medical expense related to Suboxone maintenance for clients, and collective-bargaining cost-of-living adjustments.
The facility representative said the county—s food vendor is AirMark and that the per-meal cost rose from about $1.77 two years ago to about $2.86 per meal. The representative also said the facility has started Suboxone maintenance programs to support clients' sobriety while in custody; some costs are shared with outside mental-health agencies when clients attend off-site appointments, but medication and on-site medical care generate additional in-facility costs. The presenter said they did not break out the Suboxone costs separately in the budget presentation.
Commissioners asked whether state or other sources (for example mental-health recovery boards or Medicaid-linked programs) could offset medication costs. The presenter said some costs are shared with outside agencies but that a portion must be managed within the facility depending on dosage and frequency. The presenter also said employee attrition has been low in the past year and noted one long-tenured work-release staff member might retire; attrition assumptions were described as lower than typical historical expectations.
The facility described training obligations tied to American Correctional Association certification, noting a requirement of 40 hours of annual training per employee covering first aid, CPR and correctional techniques. The county—s budget process was described as concluding with final decisions in December.
Why it matters: The requested increase affects the county—s general-fund planning and flags recurring operational cost pressures (food, medical treatments and labor) that the commissioners will weigh against other budget priorities.
