The Bartholomew County Council has agreed to provide additional money to a court services department struggling to pay its bills.
On Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to allocate an additional $10,400 to pay the employer’s share of insurance costs for Community Corrections employees for two months.
Since that money will come from the county’s health trust reserve fund, rather than general fund, Bartholomew County Auditor Pia O’Connor describes the transfer as “an accounting function,” as opposed to an additional appropriation.
Normally, insurance costs for Community Corrections employees are funded by user fees paid by offenders placed in programs such as work release or home detention, Bartholomew County Court Services Director Brad Barnes said.
However, user fees collected during the past three months totaled only half of what was received in January and February, Barnes said.
“We’re in a time that we’ve never been in before,” Barnes said. “This (shortfall) is not due to people who are absolutely refusing to pay us. They don’t have the means to pay us because they are out of work.”
Over the past three months, the county’s work release program has been shut down, due to concerns about the potential spread of the COVID-19 virus into the jail. Since the virus had been reported in a number of workplaces, Sheriff Matt Myers wanted to ensure a work release inmate didn’t bring the disease into the jail, Barnes said.
Income from another user fee was also lost after the Bartholomew County Courthouse was closed and conventional court hearings were rescheduled for later in the year. The postponements have prevented Community Corrections from receiving new court referrals from local judges, Barnes said.
But all the blame can’t be placed on the virus, council member Mark Gorbett said. User fees have been insufficient in paying for alternative sentencing programs long before COVID-19 restrictions went into effect in March, according to Gorbett, a former two-term sheriff.
The $10,400 will be enough to allow Community Corrections to pay their bills through the council’s 2021 budget talks in August, council member Jorge Morales said. During those talks, the department’s finances will be reevaluated and permanent funding solutions will be discussed, Morales said.
While Barnes expressed optimism that new court referrals will resume late this month, Community Corrections director Rob Gaskill said he isn’t sure when work release programs will resume.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to reopen the work release program, but it’s a real struggle right now,” Gaskill said.
The Community Corrections director expressed a separate concern after noting that a sizable amount of his budget comes from grants issued by state government departments.
“The governor has asked that all departments in the state reduce their budgets by 15% for 2021,” Gaskill said. “We’re crossing our fingers this doesn’t have a negative impact on local funding.”
But nothing will be known for certain until state grants are announced in October, he said.
Another financial concern expressed Tuesday is that the council won’t know the exact amount of local income tax revenue Bartholomew County can expect next year as they create the 2021 budget late this summer. That amount won’t be available until later in the year, due to extended deadlines on income tax payments, O’Connor said.
“We may be flying a little blind, or just flying on rough estimates,” O’Connor said.
Due to financial uncertainty, county department heads have been asked not to request salary increases for next year, the auditor said.
While a hiring freeze has not been enacted, administrators should understand that funding for new employees may not be available next year if there is insufficient revenue, Gorbett said.
Although the uncertain economy causes concern, O’Connor attempted to inject some positive financial information.
For example, the county still has $4.2 million in “Rainy Day” reserves, the General Fund remains “in good shape,” and the county’s health insurance costs are well under control, the auditor said.
In addition, O’Connor said she is working with Bartholomew County Emergency Management director Shannan Hinton to recover all costs spent in the local response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Bartholomew County is eligible for $2.7 million in reimbursements through the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund, O’Connor said.
