PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has secured a new agreement with the state Department of Corrections to house offenders in the county jail.
The state will pay the county $85 per inmate per day under an interagency agreement that commissioners approved Tuesday.
‘Successor’ contract
“This is a successor agreement to a long-standing agreement that we had with them over a number of years,” Jail Superintendent Ron Sukert told commissioners Monday.
“The reason we went with a new contract instead of an extension is because DOC has a maximum of $85 a day that they will reimburse.
“They also had a 3 percent-a-year cap on increases. So in order to meet that cap, we had to go to a new contract rather than try to do an addendum for fee for services.”
120-bed jail
The Department of Corrections (DOC) provides Clallam County between $200,000 and $300,000 of revenue per year for housing state inmates in the 120-bed jail, Sheriff Bill Benedict said.
This year, that number will be closer to $400,000, he said.
The county houses low-risk DOC offenders to help alleviate overcrowding at state prisons.
The jail population has been at historic lows for the past two months, Benedict said. He did not speculate why.
Average population
The average daily population was 128 in 2012, 125 in 2013 and 126 in 2014, according to county statistics.
“This year, it’s going to come in closer to 100,” Benedict told the board.
Most jail costs are fixed, meaning the daily census has little sway on expenses.
Sukert said the new agreement provides predictability for the county because it runs through 2017.
“Typically, it’s been a one-year contract,” Sukert said.
“That’s a little bit of movement on DOC’s part as well.”
City fees
Clallam County offered a flat fee to the cities of Port Angeles and Sequim to house misdemeanor offenders in the jail based on the average number of bookings generated in those jurisdictions.
The fee was $632,142 for Port Angeles and $240,000 for Sequim in 2014.
The Clallam County jail has a $3.5 million budget and supports the equivalent of 38.4 full-time jobs.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
