Sequoyah County commissioners continued their efforts to keep the county jail running at the county commission meeting Monday by cutting county officials’ budgets by 10 percent.

District 2 Commissioner Steve Carter explained the budget cut will be from each county office’s bottom budget line, and is on ad valorem money only, not cash accounts.

Cash accounts include the county’s road money, which is from a half-cent sales tax and fees and other monies from the state.

Carter said, “I imagine most officials will take their cuts from accounts such as maintenance and operation or travel.”

He said the county commissioners are planning to take the cut from their travel account.

The commissioners hope the 10 percent cut will provide sufficient money for Sheriff Ron Lockhart to operate the cash-strapped county jail until enough money can be found to keep the jail open.

The Sequoyah County Criminal Justice Authority, which operated the county jail since its opening, turned over the jail to Lockhart last week. The county commissioners, two of whom serve on the authority, said with only about $8,900 left in jail accounts, they could not keep the jail open. But turning the jail over to the sheriff means the jail can be run with county funds, which the authority was not allowed to use since it was a separate entity from county government. If the authority had closed the county jail, the members said the jail would lose the one-sixth of a cent sales tax already collected for jail operations. But that only brings in an average of $30,000 a month, which is not enough.

The commissioners are planning for an Oct. 13 election on a half-cent sales tax to run the county jail. The question will be written by the district attorney, who had not finished the question as of Monday. Consequently the call for the election was not on Monday’s agenda.

Sheriff Makes Cuts

Lockhart, who is cutting the jail budget to have enough money to keep the jail open, reported he temporarily laid off three administrators at the county jail — Administrator Christine Calbert, a secretary and Supervisor Danny Long. However, due to a jailer leaving the job, Long was brought back, Lockhart said.

“He was laid off for about six hours,” Lockhart said.

Other cost-cutting measures the sheriff is taking is housing Tulsa County prisoners for $27.50 per day per prisoner, cutting back on the menu, switching to another telephone service for prisoners, taking fees from prisoners’ commissary cards, and submitting bills for housing Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoners after they are sentenced. When prisoners are sentenced to state prison, the DOC is expected to pay their expenses after the expenses and until they can be transported to a DOC prison. Lockhart said the county has not been seeking reimbursement from the DOC and “has lost thousands of dollars” because of it.

Lockhart said the temporary layoffs and changing the prisoners’ menu is expected to save about $125,000 a year. He added that three prisoners have agreed to work to pay off their fines, and thus lessen the number of county inmates incarcerated.

He said that, as of the end of July, the jail owed about $52,000 for various bills. The commissioners approved the transfer of funds from county money to pay the bills.

In a study done by Carter last year, he estimated the cost to run the jail per year is about $850,000, and costs are most likely higher now due to inflation, he said.

The sheriff’s budget is about $599,000 a year, Lockhart said, and he urged the commissioners to find more money for the jail until the sales tax is put to a vote. If it is not approved, Lockhart said he will not have enough money to run the jail.

“It’s not my problem,” he told the commissioners about the jail. “It’s your problem. I’ll do my part, but it comes back on you. It’s your problem. I’m going to protect the sheriff’s department. We’ve got to have deputies out there.

“I can’t do this with what we have,” Lockhart said. “There’s got to be some money we can get. I’ll shut the jail down if that’s what you want. There are no grants available for the jail. I’ll have to go look for money.”

District 1 Commissioner Bruce Tabor said the commissioners were taking the 10 percent cut also.

“If I’m going to give, then everybody else is going to give too,” Tabor said.

Carter said the 10 percent cut to county officials’ budgets is expected to raise about $150,000 for a half year.

Lockhart said it will be 30 to 60 days before the county jail is reimbursed for housing Tulsa County prisoners, but he is checking to see if he can use a partial grant for some jail necessities, but the grant must be used for equipment.

The rest of the grant was used to buy two new vehicles from Blue Ribbon Chevrolet in Sallisaw. The dealership submitted the low bid for the two vehicles, at $26,823 each. The vehicles are 2009 trucks, with crew cabs and four-wheel drive. The commissioners approved the contract.

Election Strategies

Dennis Fields, a retired Sallisaw police officer who now lives in the Gore area, said he will head up a committee to work on urging voters to approve the sales tax for the jail. Fields is an appointed member of the criminal justice authority.

In two previous elections, a one-sixth of a cent sales tax for the jail was defeated.

Court Clerk Vicki Beatty urged the county commissioners to inform voters exactly how the money will be used.

“It needs to be explained to both the people and to our employees,” she said.

The commissioners also said they are planning town hall meetings around the county to answer questions about jail operations and the money needed to operate the jail.