Spokane County officials on Nov. 10 spent much of a morning briefing trying to reconcile late-breaking changes to detention revenue projections that staff said reduced net revenue by roughly $937,000 and left a near-term budget gap of about $900,000 on staff’s current worksheet.

The change followed an intra-staff recalculation that factored in assumptions about restocking populations, the county’s share of daily bed revenues and increases or decreases in placements for contract jurisdictions, the Department of Corrections and U.S. Marshals. Budget staff emphasized the calculation uses an Average Daily Population (ADP) model with multiple moving parts — jurisdictional mixes, contract daily rates and unpredictable judicial placements — and warned the figure is an estimate, not a definitive accounting of final revenues.

Commissioner Jordan asked how closing 40 beds at Geiger A would lower revenues if detainees were simply moved downtown; staff answered that ADP and contract mixes alter the net revenue calculation and that changes in DOC/US Marshal placements reduce county revenue from those outside jurisdictions. Staff said the program generated about $246,000 in revenue last year and that some or all of that could be lost depending on placement and contracting decisions.

Legal implications and staffing: Matt, a staff member who cited a recent Washington Supreme Court clarifying order on public defender caseload standards, urged the board not to lay off public defenders. "I would recommend not laying off public defense attorneys," Matt said, noting the court’s instruction that reduced caseload standards must be implemented without increasing current assigned caseloads for vendors.

Closing options and trade-offs: Commissioners and staff discussed several ways to close the gap: a one-time REIT draw (staff discussed $4.5 million in REIT capacity and smaller REIT draws for specific projects), tapping general-fund balance to buy down near-term shortfalls, or adopting a 1% property-tax increase (estimated as roughly $0.75 per average $425,000 home for the year) to add recurring revenue. They also discussed a capital plan to add about 34 bunks downtown (an estimated $1 million capital cost) to offset 40 beds at Geiger A.

Capital and program priorities: The briefing also covered capital items and REIT proposals including a $1 million placeholder for downtown jail capacity remodel (34 beds), parks maintenance (playground replacements, Pine River shoreline stabilization), auditor reporting software ($600,000), and IT server/switch replacements. Commissioners asked for clearer, short presentations from budget lead Bryce and for a sheriff revenue briefing before any final decisions are posted.

Next steps: Staff penciled in tentative directions (including a possible split funding of sheriff vehicles from fund balance and REIT), agreed to provide a clearer presentation on the detention revenue methodology, and scheduled sheriff and detention briefings for the next meeting cycle. Commissioners were reminded staff must publish budget notice for two consecutive weeks ahead of the Dec. 1 adoption meeting.