Supervisors discuss moving juvenile detention payroll savings to security upgrades and to help pay for overflow shelter

County staff on April 14 asked the Linn County Board of Supervisors to reallocate underspent juvenile detention payroll lines to other needs. David Thielen, director for Community Services, said high vacancy rates have left payroll lines underspent and requested moving $136,758 to operations to fund security and IT upgrades at the juvenile detention center, including server upgrades, additional cameras and backup systems.

Thielen said the list of upgrades was compiled with risk management and facilities staff and that finance has reviewed the request; staff member Vicki will submit the formal budget amendment later in the week. Supervisors indicated they were comfortable placing the item on the consent agenda for the board’s regular Wednesday meeting.

Thielen also requested a technical transfer of $120,000 from department 35 to the county housing fund to cover Linn County’s share of expenses at the 2025–26 winter overflow shelter and to enable federal matching of costs. Board members discussed whether the housing fund should become a standing line item in future budgets rather than relying on year‑end surpluses; several supervisors urged staff to consider adding it as a formal offer in next year’s budget process.

Both requests were described as covering one‑time needs funded from projected departmental surpluses due to vacancies; no final appropriation was recorded at the meeting and staff will return with formal amendment documents for the consent docket.

What’s next: staff will file the required budget amendment paperwork for the security/IT transfer and the housing fund transfer and the items are expected to appear on the board’s consent agenda at the next regular meeting.