La Paz County sheriff seeks $1M state grant and jail upgrades as budget shortfall looms

Sheriff Ponce told the Board of Supervisors that La Paz County’s jail has cut medical costs by operating an in‑house medical program he estimated at about $500,000 a year, which he said avoided roughly $1.5 million to $2.0 million in outside medical expenses. “Our jail has come a long way … I’m very happy with where we’re at,” Ponce said.

Ponce outlined several FY27 requests tied to reducing liability and improving inmate care: a $1,000,000 state grant application for a reentry program to fund mental‑health services, office space for reentry counselors and job‑training components; a capital replacement for an aging video surveillance system (roughly the capital line shown at $500,000 in the presentation); and personnel changes to add a classification/inmate‑services liaison and 24‑hour nursing coverage.

County finance staff walked the board through the jail district’s numbers: a beginning fund balance that was negative roughly $544,000, anticipated revenues of about $2.9 million, and a transfer‑in (MOE) of $727,000, for a total available balance of about $3.8 million against a FY27 budget near $4.2 million. Karen Ziegler (finance) clarified the range: an estimated ending deficit of about $413,000 and two options for the board — provide a general‑fund subsidy in the range of the $1.2M–$1.9M previously modeled, or allow the negative balance to roll forward and cover it later with year‑end savings.

On the surveillance system, a staff assessment flagged outdated cabling and technology that could lead to video loss or make the system vulnerable to external access. Miguel, a technical presenter, recommended evaluating subscription/lease procurement models to spread cost over multiple years rather than a single large capital outlay.

The sheriff framed the staffing and program requests as efficiency and liability reductions: 24‑hour nursing would reduce emergency ER transports and costs, a classification liaison would help limit grievances and litigation risk, and training officer positions would standardize detention training and compliance. The board asked staff to return with definitive subsidy figures and to coordinate any grant‑dependent requests with the county budget office.

What happens next: staff offered to provide a definitive number for the subsidy and to return with procurement and grant‑tracking details. The board recessed and continued other departmental budget presentations later in the day.