The county commissioners are three members of the five-member Sequoyah County Criminal Justice Authority, which oversees management of the jail. Authority members held a special meeting Monday. Sheriff Johnny Philpot is the fourth member of the authority and one seat on the authority is vacant. Philpot was not at Monday's meeting.
Reviewing alternate and cheaper health insurance plans for jail employees sparked the money discussion.
District 1 Commissioner Bruce Tabor said, "With our money crunch, we're either going to have to do layoffs or cut back somewhere. We're going to have to look at more prisoners or close the doors without money coming from the county side."
District 3 Commissioner Cleon Harrell explained that the jail is running about $16,000 short a month to meet expenses.
Jail operations are financed by a portion of a half-cent sales tax, which was approved by voters to build and maintain the jail. Of that half cent, two-thirds is used to pay off the loans and bonds which built the jail. Tabor said the bonds will be paid off in two years. That tax will then stop. One third of the tax is used for the maintenance and operation of the jail, and is a permanent tax.
Harrell said the tax brings in an average of $25,000 a month, but during some months tax receipts are higher, especially during the Christmas holidays.
Harrell said the cost of gas for prisoner transport, food for prisoners and the payroll runs about $32,000 a month. "We're about $16,000 a month short on revenue," he said.
The commissioners believe that funds from the county should help pay for jail expenses, but members of the Sequoyah County Excise Board, which must review and approve the budget, argue they are required to fund constitutional (or elected) offices first. The excise board continues to fund the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office with as much or more money that when the sheriff operated the jail. The excise board argues the sheriff's office needs the money to properly police the county.
For the past two years the jail has received no money through the county budget, and the reserve built up from the sales tax while the jail was under construction is near an end, the commissioners said.
The commissioners are considering several means to fund the jail, including housing more prisoners for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) at about $32 a day. The jail staff also reported they are also housing about 10 prisoners for LeFlore County, which is wrestling with building a new jail due to overcrowding.
Harrell said the Sequoyah County jail has 116 beds, and is presently housing 16 DOC prisoners. Justice authority members plan to meet in the near future with DOC officials to determine if more DOC prisoners can be housed in the county jail. He said the revenue from housing more DOC prisoners may correct the jail revenue shortfall.
"That would leave 80 beds for county prisoners," Harrell said.
Housing Immigration and Naturalization Service and federal prisoners might also be another source of revenue, Harrell said.
"We're just trying to break even," Tabor told those attending the meeting.
Harrell said that if the disagreement over the county budget isn't decided in favor of funding the county jail, "We'll just have to borrow the money I guess."
Authority members tabled a decision on the health insurance for review. They also approved using a Fuelman gas card for prisoner transport and approved sending staff members to a mandatory safety seminar in Shawnee.
