Benton County laying off jail employees, cutting jobs. COVID pandemic blamed

Benton County leaders plan to cut 21 positions at the county jail starting Jan. 1, according to a memo sent to corrections staff.

Eight open position will not be filled and the remaining 13 cuts are planned through layoffs.

The county is preparing an incentive program for early retirement that could reduce the number of layoffs, according to a memo from Scott Souza, chief of corrections, Jerrod MacPherson, county administrator and Matt Rasmussen, deputy administrator to corrections staff.

All but one of the cuts could come from corrections officer positions, with 88 of them now employed at the jail, said Russell Shjerven, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 839.

County officials are blaming the COVID pandemic.

“We had no intentions of reducing the budget or staffing of the Corrections Department” when the county commissioners took over operation of the jail just over a year ago, the memo said.

But the inmate population has been reduced in response to safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

The county is receiving substantially less revenue from renting extra beds to the Washington state Department of Corrections and the U.S. Marshals Service, it said.

“As the pandemic continues, it does not appear that those revenues can safely return to us in the near term and potentially never return,” the memo said.

The current staffing has been maintained through CARES Act funding, but that money will be gone at the end of November, it said.

“We have reviewed other options to retain the current staff level but without additional revenue this is not possible,” the memo said.

Union questions cuts

Local 839 officials plan to meet with jail and county leaders in the next few days.

“We hope we can save some jobs,” Shjerven said.

They will be discussing both options other than cutting jobs and why the majority of the announced cuts appear to be targeted at corrections officers. The union believes no corporals, lieutenants or sergeants in the jail have been identified for layoffs.

Shjerven questions the need to maintain the same number of management and supervisory positions if line staff will be reduced.

Since the county commissioners took over jail operations, a third lieutenant position has been created, Shjerven said.

Union bargaining for corrections staff concluded about two weeks ago with no mention of layoffs, he said.

The union settled for a one-year extension with a 2% cost of living increase and no other changes, figuring that was its best option given the pandemic, Shjerven said.

The discussions would have been different if the union had known layoffs were planned, he said.

Through the end of the year, county officials will continue to monitor the jail’s financial situation to make sure that the fewest number of positions possible are cut, the memo to staff said.

“We recognize the severe impact this action will have on our employees and their families, particularly during the turbulent times we all face now,” the memo said.

Commissioner Jim Beaver said on Saturday that “the COVID situation is going to effect more than Benton County“ and county leadership is working to make budget adjustments.

This is the first proposal for layoffs that county administrators have brought to the commissioners, and Beaver said he could not speculate about plans for the departments of other elected officials.

The Benton County Commission seized control of the jail from Sheriff Jerry Hatcher in October 2019.

This story was originally published November 21, 2020 at 11:00 AM.