Monday, Sep. 08, 2008

County, city want $10M for onset of prison costs

By Joe Chapman, Herald staff writer

Connell and Franklin County are about to send a $10 million request to the state Department of Corrections to cover expected immediate costs when the expanded Coyote Ridge Corrections Center opens in a few months.

The state plans to start moving prisoners into the new 2,048-bed medium-security prison the first of next year. When the prison is full, the additional inmates, new staff and their families are expected to increase Connell's population of 3,200 to about 5,700. The estimated costs come from the extra services that jurisdictions will have to provide the new residents.

The Connell City Council last week approved an analysis projecting the costs, and Superior Court Judge Bob Swisher will present it to Franklin County commissioners today. The city and county will forward the estimate to state prison officials in hopes the money will be allocated during next year's legislative session.

"You've got one shot. You get to throw your hook in the water once. So we've thrown everything in here," said Connell Councilman Jim Klindworth, along with Swisher a member of a prison impact committee for Connell, Franklin County and other affected jurisdictions.

In the first two years, Connell is expected to spend about $5.7 million to add staff such as an assistant city administrator and at least four new police officers, purchasing five more patrol cars, and making infrastructure improvements such as developing Ford Street as a new north-south route.

The city will be on the hook for several studies, including a stormwater plan the state requires of cities with populations of 5,000 or more -- a plan that will cost about $50,000 to draft.

The impact statement even includes itself as a reimbursable cost. Connell and Franklin County are splitting the $85,000 cost of doing the prison impact analyses.

Franklin County expects to spend about $2.5 million for additional staff and equipment upgrades in the courts, prosecutor's office and clerk's office to handle an increase in casework related to the inmates and their families.

For instance, a probation officer with a caseload of 25 to 30 juveniles will see about five to eight from prison-related households, the impact study predicted. Other caseload increases are expected from inmate assaults, public information requests from inmates, and divorces, domestic violence and child abuse involving inmates' families.

North Franklin School District, North County Public Hospital District No. 1 and the Benton-Franklin Health District also anticipate additional prison-related costs.

The impact committee expects DOC to resist many of the cost projections. And the revenue shortfalls the Legislature faces in the coming session will present another hurdle to getting funding.

Many of the "one-time" impacts Connell and Franklin County have claimed are just the first instance of long-term impacts, but the state law currently doesn't provide for reimbursement of ongoing costs.

After shepherding the current request through DOC and Legislature, the committee will turn to working with legislators and other prison communities in the state to explore changing the law to allow for ongoing reimbursement of prison-related costs.