Visiting county commissioner urges state to boost jail funding, cites $20.4M current allocation
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Summary
Andre Cushing, a Dauphin County commissioner, told Somerset commissioners the state's county jail funding has not kept pace with costs and urged pursuit of legislation to raise state support toward 20% of jail costs; he said a recent bill provided $4 million but broader benchmark language was removed.
Andre Cushing, a Dauphin County commissioner visiting Somerset, told the county board that county jail costs have risen sharply and that state support has lagged.
Cushing said the state has provided about $20,400,000 to county jails since 2001 and that county jails now face a combined cost figure he placed at roughly $139,000,000 for the year he cited. "So at $20,400,000, we're only getting about 15%, just under 15%," he said, and advocated a target of 20% state support, which he estimated would amount to about $30,000,000 annually.
He described a recent bill he worked on (referred to in the meeting as LV-4232/4232) that was amended to give counties $4,000,000 but lost language tying future increases to a $30,000,000 benchmark and CPI adjustments during the appropriations process. "The work was not in vain," Cushing said, but he urged continued advocacy in the next legislative session.
Cushing outlined staffing and operational pressures counties face'including costs driven by longer stays, court and mental-health timelines, and other state-controlled processes that affect jail lengths of stay. He said a task force will work with sheriffs on county operations and that further bills may be filed to restore or expand funding.
The board thanked Cushing for the update; he encouraged local officials to stay engaged with legislative efforts.
