CARROLLTON — Plugging the leaks of money at the jail in Vaiden is going to cost jobs — at least five staff members will have to let go, according to Warden Arthur Smith. He told Carroll County supervisors Friday that the jail is losing about $50,000 per month.
Smith and Sheriff Jerry Carver attribute the underwater budget to be the result of cuts in the number of inmates sent by the Mississippi Department of Corrections to the facility.
“They’ve been building new jails around the state, and have cut our number from 280, a regular number until 2008, down to 224 at present,” Carver said.
“That’s as high as it will get.”
The state pays $30 per day per prisoner, he said. Smith said six staff members per shift are required at the Carroll-Montgomery County Regional Correctional Facility, and he would have to be counted as one on-call person since he resides on the grounds of the prison. Two of the layoffs would be county deputies who are paid from jail funds, he said.
Smith said he didn’t realize how bad the finances were until accountant Wally Montgomery made a spreadsheet that detailed the revenues and expenditures in a clearer fashion. Supervisors told Smith to re-negotiate a contract with Montgomery County to try to raise the amount they pay for housing inmates in the Vaiden facility.
The supervisors declared their absolute determination not to raise taxes, despite the layoffs in law enforcement, or money problems in other areas of the county’s finances including raises for county employees and school funding. “We will have to use the prison surplus of $800,000 and that will last only two years,” Terry Herbert told the group.
“Up until now the taxpayers haven’t had to pay for the jail, but that may have to change,” Herbert said. “We can’t be the only county having this problem. Why are they still building new facilities?” Herbert asked, to which Board Clerk Stanley “Sugar” Mullins replied that these were voted on several years ago, before finances fell to their current levels.
Board President Honey Ashmore told the board that of the $2 million in the bank for the jail, only $800,000 can be used. “The other $1,200,000 you can’t touch,” he said.
Smith complained that Hancock Bank, which handles the funds, pays very little interest on the money.
“When they get money in from MDOC, they take out for the debt, the lease, insurance, etc.,” bookkeeper Marlee Golden explained. “I have to requisition not what we are spending, but what we can get,” she said.
A lowering in valuations of property has caused a revenue shortfall that is affecting most areas of the county’s finances, including giving county employees a 3 percent raise, which supervisors had put into the preliminary budget.
Golden told the board that projected revenues for the year are $2,824,800, and projected expenses are $3,332,694. When questioned about revenue from Justice Court fines, she said that amount was $141,600 from Oct.1 to June 30.
After the discussion of reduced revenues, they voted informally not to give raises, rather than making a formal motion. Marvin Coward and James Cobbins voted against cancelling raises.
“I don’t see how we can lay people off and then give others raises,” Herbert said.
They also decided to cut $20,000 from the sheriff’s budget, and adjusted the waste treatment plant amount up to $15,000, taking $1,400 from supervisors’ budget. Th,e board will hold hearings on the budget after advertising the time and place in a newspaper.
After taking bids on a new fire-proof vault and elevator for the courthouse that came in about $200,000 over first architectural estimates, the board decided to postpone accepting any of the bids. Architect Robert Parker Adams said he will see what can be cut from specifications, and come back in 30 days with another set.
“You have the second-oldest records in the state, and they’re not in a fire-proof vault,” Circuit Clerk Durward Stanton told the group.
Mullins said the elevator is also a serious need due to Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. Supervisors asked Clay Morgan, of North Central Planning and Development District (NCPDD), to look into other sources of funding. The county has already received a Community Development Block Grant for $387,000.
The board voted to apply for a $700,000 capital improvement loan through Mississippi Development Authority for expansion at Anel Corporation just outside of Winona. The corporation’s officers say the expansion will allow for the creation of 20 new jobs.
Tony Green of NCPDD told the board he had discussed the county schools’ shortfall with Superintendent Billy Joe Ferguson, and the only way to make up the difference in funds they are lacking from the county is to raise the schools’ ad valorem tax from 31.07 mills to 32.26 mills.
“If they ask, you have to do it,” board attorney Jim Burgoon told them.
