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Court adds $1M line to address inmate food and medical expansion costs
Summary
County staff told commissioners that inmate food is trending $500,000 over budget and inmate medical expansion requires roughly $2.88M; the court added a $1,000,000 placeholder line (combining current-year shortfall and expansion estimates) to the add/delete list for further action.
County and sheriff's staff told the Commissioner's Court that inmate costs are rising and will need additional funding as new jail capacity comes online.
Sheriff Skinner said the county is on pace to spend about $3,000,000 on inmate food this year because average daily population is rising: "it looks like we're projected, to be about 3,000,000 on food by the end of the year." County purchasing and health staff presented inmate medical totals and told commissioners they estimate total inmate medical at roughly $4,375,000, and that the expansion-related increment to the 2025 budget is about $2,883,605. Budget staff told the court they expect a $500,000 FY24 overage on food and that an additional $500,000 would be needed going into FY25 for expansion; cumulatively the court treated the combined near-term and expansion needs as a $1,000,000 add to the 2025 budget and voted to include that line on the add/delete list.
The court asked staff to incorporate those items on the add/delete list and to return with detailed breakdowns by fiscal year so that the final proposed tax-rate presentation would reflect the current-year shortfall and the expansion-driven incremental costs.
