By VICKI URBANIK

County officials this year expanded a program aimed at helping prisoners at the Porter County Jail overcome their substance abuse problems.

But Indiana lawmakers have just made implementation of that program a little harder.

The Porter County Commissioners on Tuesday took note of a new state law that will prohibit the county jail from charging a $25 booking fee, effective July 1. The fee funds a chemical dependency program provided by Porter-Starke Services for inmates at the county jail.

Effective July 1, the fee can only be collected after a person is found guilty or enters a plea agreement. The new measure was added in a bill that dealt with charging the public for police reports.

Porter County Commissioner President Robert Harper said the county will have to take the added steps of coordinating with the judges to impose the fee at sentencing and to make sure that the money is collected and then set aside in a new fund. Currently, the fee is collected right at booking; despite the added steps the county will probably now have to take, Harper estimated that probably more than 90 percent of people booked into the jail end up guilty.

North Porter County Commissioner John Evans wondered if the county could still collect the fee upon booking and then return it if the person is found innocent, but Harper said he doesn’t believe the new law would allow that.

Last fall, Harper called for the program to expand, due to a waiting list among male prisoners. In response, Porter Starke added a third counselor, and now provides two counselors for male inmates and one for females at a monthly charge to the county of $9,200.

Porter County Sheriff Dave Lain said there is ample evidence that the program is effective at reducing recitivism among drug and alcohol offenders.

Harper called the program “one of the best programs going on in the county.” South County Commissioner Carole Knoblock agreed. “It goes for a good cause,” she said of the booking fee.

Lain said because the county will be able to collect the fee through July 1, he believes there will be enough funding accumulated in order to keep the counselors on board through the end of this year. Harper said that will give the county more time to set up the new collection procedures.

Lain said it appears to him that lawmakers passed the bill without fully knowing its ramifications for Porter County. However, he also said he spoke with local state legislators about the need for the booking fee, and that they were very supportive.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners handled an assortment of county business, including:

•Renewed the agreement with Anton Insurance to serve as the local agent for county employee health coverage. Anton’s fee will increase to 25 cents per employee per month, bringing it to $2.75 per person each month this year and then $3 in 2009 through 2011.

•Finalized an agreement with consultant Lorraine Harmon to work with the assessor’s office to conduct trending for commercial and industrial properties. The contract is part of the county’s effort at retaining consultants needed to resolve property tax delays.

•Approved bids totaling $60,761 to remove underground storage tanks at the North Porter County Highway Garage in Westchester Township and in Valparaiso and at the sheriff’s garage.

•Approved a request from Porter County Clerk Pam Fish to purchase a camera that will monitor the vote-counting process on Election Day. Fish said the vote tabulation room is extremely small and that the camera will allow the county to comply with the Indiana Open Door Law. The cost will be $2,937.

•Approved an amendment to the income tax plan that would reserve $58,958 from unallocated funds to complete the Geographic Information System project.

•Took note of a decision by Porter County Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper that will allow a filming crew to use a county courtroom, as discussed in a previous meeting.

•Appointed former commissioner and current County Drainage Board President Dave Burrus to the Little Calumet River Basin Commission.

Posted 4/9/2008