Breaking up Tri-Cities juvenile services to take longer and cost more
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Franklin extends juvenile separation agreements while working on finances
- Franklin eyes $500K Martin Hall plus about $1.13M for juvenile court services.
- Staffing uncertain amid budget shortfall; transport and bed costs outlined.
The separation of bi-county juvenile courts and detention is going to take a few months longer than expected. That comes after learning last month that it’s also going to cost significantly more.
Franklin County previously set an anticipated date of April 1 to begin moving juvenile inmates to Martin Hall in Medical Lake.
But as Benton Franklin Superior Court and county employees worked on untangling the decades old bi-county system, it became clear that there were more considerations that need to be addressed first.
County commissioners voted Wednesday to extend agreements through the end of May.
Franklin County leaders also asked court staff to look into current grant funding to see if it could help offset any expenses.
It’s unclear what staffing counts will look like at this time.
If the agreement had been executed for the April 1 deadline without funding set up for a new court, up to seven court and detention employees could have been laid off.
For its part, Benton County leaders have approved waiving the need to be involved in every discussion so Franklin and the Superior Court can communicate more effectively.
Costs to split court
When Franklin County leaders voted to split services in December, they initially thought they would be saving around $2.5 million a year.
That estimate assumed that the cost of running the juvenile court was baked into the fees they paid for Benton Franklin Superior Court services. Now their savings estimate has shrunk significantly, but the county still expects to save about $1.3 million a year.
The county is currently working on figuring out a barebones cost for launching a new court. That could mean paired down support services, though no final decision has been made.
The county plans to review the cost of support services after figuring out the legal requirements for operating just the court.
The same bi-county Superior Court judges will oversee the cases, but they will no longer be doing so at Benton County’s juvenile facility.
That means Franklin also needs to find the space for a separate courtroom and the employees being shifted under their umbrella.
Franklin County Jail’s command staff also is working on partitioning an area for processing juveniles, away from adult inmates.
Franklin County is now looking to spend $500,000 for the Martin Hall contract, plus about $1.13 million the court judges have said is needed for basic juvenile court services.
They’re currently spending about $215,000 a month to keep bi-county services until the new juvenile services department is up and running.
Because the county budgeted for the year with only the $500,000 costs in mind, Franklin leaders may have some hard decisions to make this year.
The cost estimate for Martin Hall is based on reserving five beds a day for Franklin County youth offenders. Benton County previously told the Tri-City Herald that that Franklin averages six offenders being held in their facility per day. Additional beds will cost $260 per day.
The costs for transporting the teens, which will be arranged by Martin Hall, come out to $125 per trip every time the facility either picks up or returns a teen. At an average stay of 14 days in the current joint facility, that could mean a trip to the facility or back roughly once a day.
