By VICKI URBANIK

County officials have found a way to patch together enough money to stabilize, possibly for the rest of this year, a fund that pays for jailers and other jail expenses.

Prior to Wednesday’s budget hearings, the Porter County Council once again delved into the funding crisis facing the jail, which is facing a shortfall in a fund that comes from fees from housing state and federal prisoners. The fund was expected to be out of money after the next payroll.

The shortfall was said to be $400,000 on Monday, but officials said Wednesday that the actual number is closer to $250,000 for the rest of this year.

To come up with the money, County Sheriff Dave Lain will tap $150,000 from other funds under his discretion, including money that comes from sheriff’s sales, the jail commissary, and a technology fund that comes from fees for use of the jail phones.

Lain said use of these funds for the short-term will mean that he’ll have to delay some of the proposed expenditures, such as buying a battery-powered back-up as an added precaution if a generator fails during power outages.

In addition, the Porter County Commissioners have agreed to use $100,000 in income tax funds toward the jail fund. This is the second time in recent weeks that the commissioners have tapped the County Economic Development Income Tax to help shore up the jail fund, after earlier approving $150,000 from CEDIT.

The jail shortfall stems from the Indiana Department of Corrections’ decision to no longer send its state prisoners to the county jail, except for those being held temporarily. The county gets $35 per inmate per day from the state and $40 per day for each federal prisoner.

Those fees are now generating about $29,000 monthly, even though the monthly expenses out of this fund total around $80,000.

Council member Jim Burge, R-at large, once again expressed concern about using CEDIT for operational expenses, saying that he fears that the county might start depending on CEDIT to meet day-to-day expenses. Though such a use is now allowed by state law, Burge noted that CEDIT was enacted in this county specifically for economic development-related projects.

Other council members said use of the CEDIT is only to stabilize the fund through the end of this year. The council is expected to shift the costs for the jailers into the general fund for 2009, meaning that the county won’t have to rely on the dwindling fees to meet payroll and other expenses. The total fund was budgeted at $1.2 million this year.

But Burge said Porter County is about a whole year behind with its property tax billing and collections. Come Jan. 1, the county will still be struggling, he said. “It’s going to be a nightmare for another year at least,” he said.

Burge said as an alternative, the county could enact a public safety income tax as allowed by the state or, as earlier suggested, shut down county government for one day a month to save up funds.

“At this point, we’re out of options,” he said.

Council member Dan Whitten, D-at large, said he opposes both of those other options, but said he agrees that CEDIT shouldn’t be used as a long-term solution.

Posted 8/14/2008