Douglas County's new jail and another to open soon in Johnson County will mean less revenue for Jefferson County.
The Jefferson County Jail is losing two of its best customers.
Jefferson County has been operating something of an inmate hotel as a way to help support the cost of operating the county's 59-bed jail, built in 1994.
"We built it a little bit bigger so we could help override the cost with out-of-county prisoners as long as we could," said Jefferson County Sheriff Roy Dunnaway.
With the opening of the new Douglas County Jail this weekend and the pending opening of a new jail in Johnson County, there will be fewer inmates in need of rented beds.
Dunnaway said Douglas and Johnson counties accounted for about 90 percent of that revenue source, charged at $47.50 per night per inmate.
Douglas County paid Jefferson County nearly $200,000 in 1998 and had paid $113,000 through July of this year.
"It's going to be tighter," Dunnaway said of the jail's budget. "It's not going to be devastating to us."
For one reason, Dunnaway has more inmates of his own to worry about.
The county is averaging about 25 inmates per night this year compared to about 11 five years ago.
For another, Dunnaway is courting other potential customers.
Dunnaway said he signed an agreement with Wyandotte County last week to take on some of that county's extras.
He said the county also houses inmates in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from time to time.
"They may bring a busload into us for a night or two nights," Dunnaway said.
Still, the change will deal a blow.
Last year, the county took in about $500,000 from other counties, more than a quarter of the sheriff's total budget of $1.8 million.
Dunnaway said any budget cuts would not come from law-enforcement expenses like cruisers or deputies.
"If we don't have the numbers, we'll just have to cut somewhere in the jail," he said.
-- Kendrick Blackwood's phone message number is 832-7221. His e-mail address is kblackwood@ljworld.com.
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