Probation leaders ask council to keep user-fee-funded programs intact as client counts grow

Probation officials walked the council through several funds supported by client fees — adult and juvenile user fees, supplemental probation, GPS monitoring and extradition fees — and described how those fees pay for daily monitoring costs, drug testing, equipment repairs and some salaries.

The probation director said GPS vendor costs rise with the number of ankle bracelets in use and reported roughly 137'140 bracelets in service that morning, explaining why the GPS budget line increased from prior years. "We're at I think close to 137, 139 bracelets out this morning," the director said, noting daily vendor charges drive the line-item increase. Several probation funds were approved for inclusion in the final Boone County budget pending salary reconciliation.

Officials also discussed user-fee fund cash balances and the state's role in setting grant salary amounts for certain grants (for example, the drug-court grant salary was described as set by the state). Council members asked whether the county would backstop programs if grant dollars were reduced; department leaders said they would return to the council if state funding did not materialize.