Jail revenues exceed some targets as county reports staffing gains, officials say

Cowlitz County finance staff presented jail financials Nov. 3 showing revenues and staffing trends that county leaders described as encouraging.

Kathy Funk Baxter told the board the jail had $321,000 budgeted in intergovernmental revenue and had received about $283,000 through October; roughly $257,000 of that is MOUD funding for medications for opioid use disorder. She also reported goods-and-services receipts tied to daily room-and-board charges to surrounding cities were above trend for the year.

On expenses, Baxter said personnel was the largest line: budgeted at roughly $7.3 million with about $5.4 million recorded so far, though October payroll had not been posted. Services including the medical and food contracts were budgeted at $4.3 million with $3.6 million expended to date; capital spending on jail projects remained small relative to the budget.

Corrections staff reported the facility had 51 positions filled with five open at the time of the report; four corrections officer vacancies were noted but two officers were expected to be onboard by mid-November. The staff presenter said she was "cautiously optimistic" vacancies could fall to zero by year'end and that filling positions would reduce overtime and eliminate the need for some temporary staff currently used for control room coverage.

The board asked several clarifying questions about overtime, the timing of payroll posting and the source of Ecology funds that support jail work crews; corrections staff explained the county bills the Department of Ecology quarterly for supervised work crews that help with highway pickup and city jobs, a revenue stream that staff expect will improve with restored crew capacity.

What happens next: staff will post outstanding payroll entries, onboard the new officers as scheduled and report back on overtime and recruitment progress; no policy action was taken at the Nov. 3 meeting.