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Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff) and Probation Department (Probation) recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign a budget transfer for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25 increasing revenue and appropriations by $647,229 for both the Probation Department and the Sheriff’s Office, due to additional funding approved by the Community Corrections Partnership. (4/5 vote required)
FUNDING: Public Safety Realignment (AB109) (100%).
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
On November 21, 2024, the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) met and approved to increase revenue and expenditures for Probation and the Sheriff for additional expenses in the CCP FY 2024-25 budget.
Probation was approved for an additional $70,000 in revenue and expenditures, $20,000 for furniture to add office infrastructure and $50,000 to fund a pilot sex offender counseling program. Both items will be using Planning and Implementation funding. The furniture will be used by El Dorado County Office of Education, Sacramento County Office of Education, and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Division of Adult Parole due to the Community Correction Center expanding service provision with those agencies. Pursuant to Penal Code section 1203.067, persons placed on formal probation on or after July 1, 2012 for an offense requiring sex offender registration must successfully complete a sex offender management program as a condition of release from probation. The pilot sex offender counseling program will use a contractor to provide counseling sessions, assessment, treatment, polygraph examinations, and other services for individuals meeting the criteria above.
Sheriff was approved for an additional $577,229 in revenue and expenditures, $572,862 to cover additional inmate medical services through Wellpath for FY 2024-25 and $4,367 to cover El Dorado County's portion of a Transportation Application Development Fee.
The additional funding for inmate medical services was requested due to rising costs to the contract with Wellpath. This will be funded with the CCP AB109 funds.
As a result of AB 109, county jail populations have changed, and capacity limitations have incentivized the release of lower-level offenders on supervised release or lower bail amounts. Unfortunately, failures to appear in court are not uncommon, resulting in bench warrants for the offender. When the subject of a bench warrant is re-arrested in another county, they are booked in that county jail. Once local charges are resolved or if the offender waives a local court appearance when they are informed of the out-of-county warrant, the county-to-county extradition process starts. The sheriff from the County that has the warrant has 5 days to pick up the prisoner and return them to the originating county. Statewide, on any given day, dozens of Sheriff transportation vans from all over the geographic areas of the state or moving north-south, east-west, to pick up prisoners from other jails. Along the way, they may be crossing paths while driving empty transport vehicles and missing opportunities to assist one another.
Over the years, and organically through relationship building, various deputy sheriffs have been able to call one another and ask for, and do, “favors” to lessen their driving burden. In 2023, California State Sheriffs Association (CSSA) set out on a project to work with the tech industry and build a software solution that will leverage Artificial Intelligence, Communication, and data-sharing to build upon what some deputies have been able to do organically. The vision was to have a software solution that does the route management and to help task the “favors” in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.
The goal of developing the software is to accomplish several things, including:
• Reduce hours and miles driven by deputies when they need to pick up an inmate in another county
• Reduce the number of days an inmate spends in a county jail, awaiting pickup from the agency holding the bench warrant
• Reduce wear-and-tear on Sheriffs’ transportation vehicles (fuel, brakes, tires, etc) and extending the life of those vehicles
• Reduce vehicle emissions by making better coordinated, shorter trips, and reducing the number of miles driven by empty transportation vehicles.
Stakeholders from Transportation teams of various Sheriff’s offices, along with I.T. experts from several Sheriff’s offices, worked together to develop a statement of work document, which was then put out to the tech community for proposals. As a result, CSSA received several proposals ranging from $250,000 to $485,000. The IT team then reviewed all the proposals and selected the $485,000 proposal from Insight Solutions. The $4,367 will cover the El Dorado County portion of the development of the software. This will be using Planning and Implementation funding.
ALTERNATIVES
N/A
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Sheriff’s Office, Chief Administrative Office, Auditor’s Office
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The proposed budget transfer results in no increase to Net County Cost. All increases in expenditures are funded by commensurate offsets or additional revenue.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
The Clerk of the Board will obtain the Chair's signature on the original Budget Transfer and will forward the Budget Transfer to the Auditor/Controller for processing.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Strategic Innovation
Priority: Develop Solutions through Leveraging of Technology
Action Item: For Law Enforcement and Emergency Responders, use existing social media and applications and pursue in-house technology development to aid engagement with the public on community concerns and safety issues
CONTACT
Jackie Cook, Administrative Analyst, 530-621-5588