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County could pay detention center deficit
Published 11:52am Monday, November 2, 2009Otter Tail County could be asked to pay $46,000 as its share of a deficit at the West Central Regional Juvenile Center in Moorhead.
While Clay County has agreed to cover the deficit so far this year, counties who are members of the juvenile center will be asked to pay the deficit for the last quarter of 2009 if they adopt a new agreement.
Due to the county’s out-of-home placement costs being lower than budgeted, the county is able to cover the $46,000 cost, Probation Director Chuck Kitzman said at the Otter Tail County Board meeting Tuesday.
When asked by Commissioner Doug Huebsch if that was a reasonable price, Kitzman replied that the county doesn’t have $46,000 worth of juveniles at the facility.
To eliminate a deficit in 2010, member counties are being asked to vacate their existing agreement and adopt a new agreement in its place. The new agreement requires counties to purchase a certain amount of beds in the detention center ahead of time.
The county board is expected to approve or oppose the agreement at its Nov. 10 meeting. The commissioners have agreed to purchase 2.5 beds per day. The county’s average usage is 2.31 beds per day.
The total number of beds to be purchased is 18.5, although the number of juveniles sent to the center averages about 14 per day, Kitzman said. So far, counties have agreed to purchase nearly 17 beds.
County Coordinator Larry Krohn noted that the purchasing of beds will allow them to see which counties aren’t fulfilling their number of beds and where the deficit problem lies.
