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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Clackamas jail's cash crunch could put inmates on street Clackamas jail's cash crunch could put inmates on street Friday, May 13, 2005 OREGON CITY -- Seventy-six beds at the Clackamas County Jail could be closed within a month, and 96 more could be closed in January, sheriff's officials told the county budget committee Thursday. The combined closures would reduce the jail's capacity by more than half and send hundreds, if not thousands, of inmates free. "We've delayed the train wreck, and we've increased the size," Commissioner Bill Kennemer said during Sheriff Craig Roberts' budget presentation, alluding to the magnitude of the problem. For several years, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office has seen the cost of providing services outpace its funding. Three times in recent years, voters have turned down levies that would have kept the jail's beds open and retained staff. "The last thing I want to do is close jail beds," Roberts said. "You cannot continue at this rate." Some budget committee members raised the possibility of placing another levy before voters as early as November and pledged to work with the sheriff's office to find an additional $2.4 million to keep jail beds available. Roberts said that in the worst case, funding would need to be re-evaluated in January, with the possibility of closing another 96 jail beds. "It is not scare tactics. It is reality," said Commissioner Larry Sowa, also a member of the budget committee. If no new money is found, the sheriff's budget for the next fiscal year is $48.5 million, a 2 percent decrease from the current year. Roberts noted that current services are far short of what they were a few years ago. Over the past seven years, staffing has fallen from 389 full-time positions to 357, the sheriff said. Jail capacity also has decreased. Two failed law enforcement levies in 2002 forced the county to shut down 84 jail beds, space that has never reopened. Due to overcrowding , the county releases about 5,700 inmates awaiting trial a year. The proposed reduction of 76 beds would provide the county with 0.7 jail beds per 1,000 population, far below Oregon's average of 2.3 beds per 1,000 people, the sheriff said. Clackamas County currently already has one of the lowest ratios in the state at 1.1 beds per 1,000. Roberts said reduced funding would also delay deputies' response times to calls for assistance. The office would also take more reports for lower-level offenses by phone rather than sending a deputy to the incident. But extra money for the sheriff's office may be hard to find. "Frankly, money isn't growing on trees," Kennemer said. He cited funding for libraries and other services are facing cuts for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. County departments rely on many sources of revenue, including the county's general fund, which is made up mostly of property taxes. The sheriff's office is expected in the coming fiscal year to receive more than half of the county's general fund revenue, $38.3 million, an 8 percent increase from the previous year's general fund contribution. Roberts, however, said the increased allocation of general fund money to the sheriff's office is not enough to match the rising costs in personnel benefits, overtime and fuel prices. Budget committee member Chris Geiger asked the sheriff's office to explain its practice of allowing deputies to drive their patrol cars to and from work. Capt. Bruce Pearson said that when deputies commute in their patrol cars, it makes the sheriff's office more visible and allows them a quicker response time to an emergency. Kennemer pointed out that some deputies do not live in the county. Roberts later added that his office was assessing where deputies lived and whether it was imperative for certain deputies to take cars home. The bastards have more than enough money, if they would quit squandering it on bullshit projects like tearing up the roads to remove traffic lanes and replacing them with high maintenance weed boxes and expensive antique looking light poles with hanging flower baskets. Oh, and there's the brand new administration building. And let's not forget the brand new firetrucks they purchased at top dollar and then turned around and sold at a major loss. Or how about the cost of the fight to keep WalMart out. Or the urban renewal zone that lets the majority of major businesses avoid paying taxes while nothing is being renewed. Or the administrators that have been fired and replaced, but we're still paying off the last several years of their lucrative contracts. There's plenty of money, but they plan to extort more by dumping criminals on us to terrorize us into paying.
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