County hit hard by rising costs of criminal justice

Almost one-quarter of Spokane County’s 2006 general fund budget will be spent on incarcerating adult and juvenile criminals.

Rising costs at the Spokane County Jail and Geiger Corrections Center are part of an overall trend of burgeoning criminal justice system expenses.

Fully $31.4 million of $137 million in proposed general fund expenses will be spent at the jail, Geiger, Martin Hall and the juvenile jail.

And the criminal justice system as a whole accounts for more than 70 percent of the county budget.

Overall, such costs – as well as rising medical expenses – have pushed the 2006 proposed budget up about $12 million over 2005.

Spokane County commissioners are hiring a consultant to examine jail efficiencies and have been urging the Sheriff’s Office, prosecutor, courts and other criminal justice departments to find better ways of working together.

“I think it’s going to go down,” said Commissioner Mark Richard of the criminal justice budget.

They must also make sure that state lawmakers don’t increase the burden by adding unnecessary criminal penalties that will keep felons in the county jail longer, Commissioner Todd Mielke said.

To make ends meet, commissioners have authorized a 1 percent property tax increase in 2006.

That increase is for the entire pool of property taxes, not for each individual property owner.

Depending on their assessments, some people’s taxes may go up while others’ go down.

“I’m a little concerned about the fact that we had to take money out of the reserve fund to balance the budget,” Commissioner Phil Harris said.

The 2006 budget relies on about $3 million from that account – less than had originally been proposed, but more than commissioners would like.

Commissioners said they would prefer that expenses match revenues.

“I won’t be so bold as to say that (will happen in 2007), but in the next two to three years that’s a goal of mine: to stop tapping our reserves,” Richard said.

County commissioners have repeatedly said that the budget must maintain adequate reserves and that they won’t entertain requests for additional personnel until midway through the new year.