Washington County Board Hears Public Safety Budget Proposals

In the face of looming budget cuts, Washington County’s public safety departments must find new ways to serve residents with fewer funds.

Department heads during Tuesday’s Washington County Board meeting outlined how they plan to trim their budgets.

The Community Corrections Department will see a 2.5 percent reduction in state funding; a 4 percent reduction in fees; and a 6 percent reduction in the use of property tax dollars in 2012. In response, the department has proposed eliminating one support position, reducing its “child placement” budget by 20 percent and consolidating juvenile diversion services.

To increase efficiency and effectiveness, the department is moving toward electronic files, new forms of drug testing and continuing to utilize the Sentence to Service Program. More than 1,000 offenders will work more than 95,000 hours in 2012, saving 32 beds per day in the county jail, according to Community Corrections Director Tom Adkins.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s department budget expenditures are staying consistent with previous years, though it will see a slight increase in capital due to the need for new squad cars, Sheriff Bill Hutton said. The Sheriff’s Department replaces 12-14 marked squad cars per a year, and the vehicles are usually replaced every 100,000 miles.

Since Ford no longer makes the Crown Victoria, the sheriff’s department is looking at different models of squad cars, but officials will need to replace all the equipment inside the squad cars because the current equipment is only compatible with the Crown Victoria. 

The 2012 budget for the sheriff’s department is proposed at $26.5 million.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orput and his staff have initiated a variety of changes in the past year to cut $97,500 from his department’s 2011 budget. This was done by eliminating a victim witness supervisor position and moving victim witness coordinators to the criminal division of the office.

The county attorney’s office also surpassed its turnaround goal for all case decisions. The goal was 45 days; now it is only three days for adult criminal cases and seven days in juvenile criminal cases, according to Orput.

The county attorney’s office's initiatives for 2012 include: Reducing truancy by partnering with Community Services; Reducing domestic abuse by developing and implementing a initiative like Ramsey County’s Blue Print for Safety with the help from city attorneys, corrections officials, law enforcement agencies and domestic abuse advocates.

The department also plans to start a veteran’s diversion program. This program puts veterans that have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorders into rehabilitation alternatives instead of keeping them in the regular corrections system. The attorney’s office will partner with Community Corrections, Community Services, district court and law enforcement.

Commissioners praised Orput and his office for his accomplishments in the past eight months.

“I think you are doing an excellent job,” Commissioner Dennis Hegberg said.

The Next Washington County Board meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sept. 6.