Chief Deputies Explain Budget Woes

CANTON—The unexpected jump in gasoline prices in the past year was enough budgetary bad news for the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office and the Van Zandt County Jail.

As chief deputy John Turner and chief deputy for jail administration George Flowers explained to the Van Zandt County Commissioners’ Court Wednesday morning, fuel was just the beginning.

"Our original (fiscal year 2008) budget was $95,000 even though we had spent $116,000 in 2007," Turner said.

"That’s pretty much it. The percentage of our fuel expense increase this year plots out to the percentage of the increase in gas prices," he later added.

The court wanted an explanation for a $25,000 end-of-year add-on to the sheriff’s office fuel and lubricants budget after it had been bumped up earlier in the year to $111,500.

Turner and Flowers attended the resumption of the court’s regular meeting that started Tuesday morning. Sheriff R.P. "Pat" Burnett was not available due to a prior commitment at an out-of-town conference.

Both chief deputies continued explaining how the fuel price increases were hitting other areas of operations as well, most notably with inmate food costs.

A $20,000 increase for expenditures was being sought despite, as Van Zandt County Judge Rhita Koches put it, "There were periods when the jail was not full."

Flowers said the jail’s food budget has been hit by a number of increases, including vendor delivery surcharges as well as food and commodity price jumps.

There was one cost increase that really took the jail administration by surprise.

"We had been purchasing our breads at Wal-Mart for years," Flowers said. "One Friday, we went in to pick up bread and were told immediately they didn’t want to sell to us anymore at the price we had been paying."

"I think they (Wal-Mart) figured out they were losing money on it. We were paying about 68 cents per loaf," Turner added.

Flowers said it forced the jail administration to turn to a contracted delivery with Bimbo Bakeries USA, the Fort Worth company that produces Mrs. Baird’s brands.

He added that despite efforts to shop between several providers for food items and cost-saving measures like providing vegetables to inmates from the jail-operated garden, "We’ve seen the cost of feeding an inmate per day go to $2.03 for three meals."

Speaking by telephone on Tuesday, Burnett said that figure was around $1.88 a year ago.

"Delivery charges went up during the year and the food prices have gone up. There were several weeks we didn’t open a can of anything and (inmates) ate out of what we had grown in our garden," Burnett said, referring to the produce garden at the justice center.

"But we don’t produce chicken and beef out of the garden, or bread, flour or sugar," he added. "Food costs have been more this year, but it is still less than in 2000 when I took the sheriff’s office."

He continued by saying the sheriff’s office and jail have not been immune to the utility, food and transportation costs that have plagued individuals in the past 12 months.

"There are certain things I can’t control like delivery charges, water and electricity charges. I believe the citizens understand that," he said.

The commissioners’ court intends to meet in special session Tuesday at 9 a.m. to act on final fiscal year 2008 budget amendments.

Among those will be several in the district court budget, which county auditor John Shinn outlined at the beginning of Wednesday’s resumption.

Shinn said jury expenses as of Sept. 5 were nearly $10,000 over the budgeted $17,500.

"There could be more jury expenes to come that haven’t been billed yet. At this moment, I don’t know what we will see," Shinn said.

He also said the indigent legal aid budget was slightly over by about $1,500. A large discrepancy in the court’s psychiatric evaluations budget — $26,915 — may actually be legal fees incorrectly coded.

"Overall, I think the district court budget will be OK," Shinn said after the end of Wednesday’s session.