Too many criminals. Not enough money.
The Utah Legislature owes county-owned-and-run jails nearly $1 million for housing and feeding "state" inmates, legislative leaders were told Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, who is also legal counsel for Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman, tried to find a way to get the payment considered by lawmakers Wednesday as they meet in a special budget session. The bill could then be paid with extra federal funds that came to the state just last week.
But it appears leaders can't do that.
Jail reimbursement is not officially on Wednesday's legislative call, set by Gov. Mike Leavitt. And Leavitt can't add a last-minute item to the call without declaring an emergency and securing two-thirds' legislative approval.
Lacking that, legislative leaders will try to pay the inmate bill in August or September, when Leavitt says he'll likely call them back into special session to decide whether to sell the state's Workers Compensation insurance fund.
Several years ago, lawmakers promised sheriffs, who run county jails, that the state would pay 70 percent of the cost of housing and feeding "state" inmates. Those are criminals who are sentenced to jail for violating state laws.
More serious offenders, such as murderers and rapists, are sentenced by judges directly to the Utah State Prison. But minor felons and misdemeanants are often sentenced by judges to county jails where they serve shorter sentences.
Lawmakers set aside $8.5 million this fiscal year for such prisoners' expenses, figuring "inmate days," as the measurement goes, would increase about 4 percent. But "inmate days" increased by approximately 15 percent. And for 11 months through May, the state owes various counties a total of $953,236, said Mike Chabries, executive director of the state Department of Corrections.
There are three main reasons for the increase:
Some county jails do a much better job of accounting for and billing the state for every day they lock up a "state" prisoner.
More criminals are sentenced to county jails by judges.
Judges sentence county inmates to longer time behind bars.
For some counties, it's not a lot of money. For example, Grand County is owed just $1,928.
But Salt Lake County is owed $181,566, Utah County is owed $141,822 and Weber County — which has a new large jail — is owed $247,974. Curtis has a reason, besides pleasing his boss, for quick action. As reported previously, the federal government, through President Bush's and Congress' recent tax-cutting action, has sent Utah $38 million in an effort to help struggling states balance their budgets this year.
The cash falls into this current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Much of that cash will help the state avoid a $28 million shortfall at year's end. But there is enough left over to pay the $1 million jail bill.
However, half of any unused cash on July 1 must flow into the state's Rainy Day Fund. So, if legislators can get their hands on it before June 30, there would be more funds available for year-end demands like the jail bill.
The Legislature may just have to wait until August to pay the counties' jail tab, House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, said.
Meanwhile, inmates will still be fed and housed, and no one will get out of jail early because of the state's overdue bill.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com