Funding for the Lane County jail
VENETA, Ore. -- Five new sheriff's deputies, more prosecutors.
A more better county budget for law enforcement?
Critics say law enforcement still gets the short end of the stick in Lane County's new budget.
The county's budget committee voted down using $3.2 million dollars to re-open 84 county jail beds. The jail doesn't have enough money now to keep some people accused of crimes behind bars until they face trial or for their full sentence.
Instead, the budget committee voted to keep most of that money -- $2.7 million -- in reserves.
The committee also added money for human services, crisis food and shelter, children and families -- and $250,000 for new part-time assistants for the county commissioners.
Rewind to when "county payments" -- money the federal government pays the county instead of logging the national forests to generate money for county roads and government and local schools.
County commissioners begged for federal timber money. They said without it, public safety would be cobbled.
They got their money, but the jail beds aren't coming back.
The county has $2.7 million in reserves instead.
"We've had major cuts in our federal funding, steady local taxes, a severe drop in fee income and worse yet are the major state cuts," said Pete Sorenson, the county commission chairman.
Sorensen defends the budget, saying with high unemployement and a faltering economy, the county needs reserves.
Hear more from Commissioner Sorensen:
Congressman Peter DeFazio, who fought to restore the federal money, wrote a letter to the budget committee Monday arguing that jail beds are the kind of service a government spends reserve money on in an emergency.
"So if they're in such a crisis how can they afford to have aides?" DeFazio told KVAL News. "They're full-time commissioner. That's their jobs to be out in the community."
Hear more from Rep. DeFazio:
Sen. Ron Wyden also wrote a letter to the commission urging them to use federal money to fund law enforcement.
Not funding jail beds doesn't make sense to veneta resident Connie Martin.
"If the criminal are bad enough to be arrested they should have a place to keep them," Martin said.
Martin went to a community meeting in Veneta to sound off to the sheriff and district attorney.
But she's preaching to the choir. The DA and sheriff say we can't solve the county's crime problem without jail beds.
"Literally we end up arresting, prosecuting people who we can't hold accountable for their crimes," Sheriff Russ Burger said.
Hear more from Sheriff Burger:
This isn't a done deal: commissioners vote on the recommended budget in two weeks and could still add some jail beds back in.
That may not be how Commissioner Sorenson would vote: he says in their budget public hearings, only three people asked them to fund jail beds.
On Thursday, the city of Eugene and county said they considering a funding swap that would help fund jail beds.
