KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – It’s one of those pay now or pay more later situations for the Kalamazoo County board as they address a funding shortfall in a critical department.
The Office of Community Corrections provides monitoring and supervision of misdemeanor and felony offenders who are going through diversion programs, like the county’s Specialty Courts and rehab programs, or awaiting trial.
It’s a better and far less expensive way to manage them than the alternative, time in the county’s aging jail.
Director Ken Bobo says it costs $150 a day to house an inmate. His only alternative is to lay off pre-trial services staff. Each one supervises 80 defendants.
He says the county’s corrections operation is one of the best in Michigan.
The county board is expected to reallocate just over $40,000 at this week’s meeting from unused ARPA funding as a stopgap, to maintain indigent electronic monitoring programs for the rest of the year, which also reduces the jail headcount.
But Bobo says will take $150,000 more to maintain staffing.
Kalamazoo County Administrator Kevin Catlin says they will look at that in a month or two, when they will have a clearer picture of where they stand financially.
The board appears supportive of finding a solution.
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