Armbrecht points to county costs
Council member says jail not making money
Mary Margaret Moorhead - Staff Writer

Much of the discussion at the Tuesday, March 15, meeting of the Ripley County Council centered on the confusing financial reports from the county's general fund and the county jail's operating costs.

An article in the Tuesday, February 22, edition of the Osgood Journal features comments from County Commissioner Robert Reiners and Ripley County Sheriff Bill Davison that "a profit was turned from jail funds in 2004 for the first time in its history."

According to the story, "Revenue for 2004 was $691,034.00, with expenses being $664,392.00, leaving a $26,642.00 profit to the county."

At the Tuesday meeting, Council Member Ed Armbrecht refuted that amount during an agenda position under old business. Indicating that he had researched the figures reported to the council for 2004, Armbrecht indicated that these figures were misleading.

"We can't ignore the costs to the County General Fund. We are not making money on the jail."

In a fact sheet presented to members of the county council, commissioners, and audience members, Armbrecht pointed out the amounts paid from the County General Fund-Commissioners Budget totaled $872,835.93, leaving a net loss of $247,013.20 for 2004.

These included utilities; PERF; county's share of OASI; health, life, and property insurance; and workman's compensation insurance.

"We have no intention to deceive," Sheriff Davison said. "Our figures came from the amount the jail was budgeted."

Armbrecht's statistics (on file at Ripley Publishing Company) compared the cost reported to council for the year 2004, the actual year 2004 (his figures including the amount spent from the commissioners' budget), and the budgeted year 2005.

In his "Budgeted Year 2005" figures, Armbrecht also includes the amount from the County General Fund - Commissioners Budget and projects a net loss of $319,103.00 for
2005. He notes that the jail budget for 2005 does include utilities in the amount of $60,000.

He writes in his explanations at the bottom of the report that the $600,000 for housing for the year 2005 is based on the estimate in the proposal presented to the county council. The 2004 figure was $597,385.00; however, that was the
amount billed and not all has been collected, according to Armbrecht.

Commissioner Robert Reiners spoke in defense of the jail's operating costs noting that the county is in a much better financial shape than several years ago when he county was paying huge amounts to transport and house prisoners.

"If you would say the jail is not making money, what would it have been before? Is it costing as much as it did several years ago? Let's go back to the time we were paying for out-of-county prisoners and compare apples to apples."

He continued, "How much did we lose before the new jail was built? We have quite a bit of cash flow now.
Money is coming in now, not going out as it was before."

Explaining that he was not pointing an accusing finger at anyone, Armbrecht said, "We are not making money, but it's not our responsibility to make money on the jail. It's our responsibility to incarcerate prisoners, but remember we are still paying off the debt for the new jail."

County Attorney Neil Comer agreed that the jail is losing less money than "what we did four years ago," and Commissioner Chuck Folz noted, "When it's (the jail) is paid for, you will have an asset."

In summary, Sheriff Davison said, "We're running a good, clean, efficient jail. We're making money. We're turning over money each month to the County General Fund - $96,080.00 in two months."

Other business during the one-hour-and-a-half meeting included unanimous approval for additional appropriations:

* $24,000.00 for the Ripley County Veterans from the Rising Sun Regional Foundation van grant, requested by Service Officer Andy Clark;

* $30,000.00 to fund covered bridge #46 and $180,000.00 from Cumulative Capital Development for a new roof for the courthouse as well as repairs and maintenance, requested by the commissioners.

* $1,699.09 for Emergency Management to purchase a new computer from grant received, requested by Jerry Fry.

A transfer of $456.00 from Garage & Motors to Service Contracts was approved for Owen Heaton, Ripley County Highway Department.

Ripley County Sheriff Bill Davison's request for transfers from the Jail Division were put on hold for still another month when Council Members Armbrecht and Mark Busching pointed out that it is illegal to transfer from one fund to another.

"It has to be an additional appro

priation," Armbrecht said. "We can't legally transfer from one fund to another."

During the ensuing discussion, County Attorney Comer found some information in the auditor's manual, and County Auditor Mary Ann McCoy said she would call the state to get official clarification on the matter.

In the meantime, Sheriff Davison will return to council for the fourth time, but next time with an additional appropriation, he said.

Also tabled until next meeting was E-911 Coordinator Judy Schebler's request to transfer funds.

Under old business, Batesville Mayor Rick Fledderman requested and received council's approval for Tom Jeffers to be the Ripley County Council's representative on the Batesville Economic Development Commission.

Committee reports concluded the meeting with the following present: Council President Donald Dunbar, members Ed Armbrecht, Mark Busching, William Dramann, David Simon, Benjamin Peetz, and Dephane Smith.

County Attorney Neil Comer and County Auditor Mary Ann McCoy were present in official capacities as were Commissioners Robert Reiners, Chuck Folz, and Lawrence Nickell.