ALFRED — The Legislative Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee may be poised to support $2.4 million in supplemental funding to assist financially ailing county jails.

And instead of parceling out the funding using a formula that would see all of Maine’s 15 county jails receive some funding, they may go a different route.

“(It) looks like we are leaning towards granting the additional funding, but as I suggested today, we might want to target the funding to the counties that actually need money, like York County instead of the current distribution model by the Department of Corrections,” committee member Rep. Justin Chenette, D-Saco, said in an email Monday night.

York County is projecting a $713,000 deficit by the end of this fiscal year because of a variety of issues, county officials say, including overtime costs, more inmates and lengthier stays for inmates awaiting trial.

Under the current funding formula, York County Jail is projected to receive about $318,000, but could see more under a different method of distribution.

Chenette suggested targeting the jail funding during a public hearing in Augusta Monday afternoon. The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee has scheduled a work session for Wednesday on L.D. 1614, which would inject $2.4 million into jail operations for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscal years.

If the committee supports the funding, the matter will go to the Legislature for a vote.

Rep. Michael Devin, D-Newcastle, told the criminal justice committee Monday that he supports the bill, pointing out that $2.4 million was removed from the jail appropriation last session. He said at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, that means cuts and cancellations of programs as well as layoffs.

“We talk glowingly of programs one day and cut them the next,” he said. “Please vote ‘ought to pass’ so that county jails can function properly.”

“What was distributed was woefully short,” said Maine County Commissioners Association Executive Director Rosemary Kulow, agreeing with Devin.

Kulow said Maine’s county jails are experiencing out-of-control medical costs, and costs associated with detoxification and stabilization of addicted inmates, and must comply with laws concerning the health and safety of inmates and corrections staff.

Costs also increase with inmates who are in jail for long periods of time, she said. “It’s next to impossible to balance budgets.”

A tax cap was implemented in 2008 when the Gov. John Baldacci administration introduced a consolidation system. Maine Sheriff ’s Association president and Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry said some sheriffs would support an increase in the tax cap, but not all of them. Parceling out funds to only the counties that need it would be a step in the right direction, he said.

Merry added that state appropriation to help operate the county jails has been flat for the past six years. But he also noted it may be difficult to determine how to parcel the funds if Chenette’s suggestion is implemented.

“What do you base it on, needs or wants? Is it programs or hiring more people so we don’t have to spend as much in overtime? We’re facing changes in requirements and regulations that effect each county,” said Merry.

“Now that there is no Board of Corrections, why are we subsidizing the jails?” asked committee member Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, referring to the governing board of the consolidated system that was abolished last year. “Now we don’t have that partnership, so I have a hard time rationalizing it.”

Rep. Karen Gerrish, R-Lebanon, a member of the committee, said she wants to make sure any money earmarked for the jails goes to the jails, rather than other county functions.

Merry said in York County, he believes inmate counts are driving the deficit. In 2008, York County Jail had a daily population of 200; in 2016, the daily count is 250, with no extra resources to pay for the increase. York County Jail is also operating with fewer corrections staff than what has been recommended, he said.

York County Commissioners are poised to discuss the funding issue at their next meeting on Wednesday. Among the remedies commissioners are considering is leaving vacant corrections staff positions unfilled.

York County Sheriff Bill King told county commissioners on Feb. 17 that 78 percent of inmates at the jail are awaiting trail, and that many will eventually end up in the state prison system. If the court process could move more speedily, those inmates would be in state, rather than county, custody, King said.

As well as being a state legislator, Chenette is employed as a digital advertising executive at the Journal Tribune.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.