Revenue gains improve outlook for Martin Hall

Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility’s future looked bleak a year ago because of declining revenue and departure of Spokane County from the cooperative which operates the facility.

However, during the first three quarters of the year, Martin’s financial standing has improved.

Lincoln County Commissioner Scott Hutsell, chairman of the multi-county Martin board, said the hall at present is doing “fairly well.”

Late last year, it was uncertain if Martin Hall would remain open when Spokane County pulled out of the group of counties in the program. In addition to Whitman County, others remaining in the group are Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry. Representatives from each county make up a governing board for the Martin Hall facility which is located at Medical Lake.

Last December, former Whitman County Commissioner Pat O’Neill, who was on the hall’s board at the time, reported the Martin board wanted to keep the hall open one more year with users making up budget shortfalls.

The eight counties in the group agreed to adopt a “pay-as-you-go” policy and not require each member to pay the set fee which had been in place since the start of the operation. Since 1996, each county paid for a projected number of bed-days per year. Whitman County paid $141,437 based on a projection of 2.5 beds per day or 912.5 beds per year. Now the participating counties pay $155 per bed per day for each juvenile offender they bring to Martin Hall.

O’Neill at the time reported the Martin board had also decided on an option to shut the hall down if operating reserves fell below $350,000 and stayed at that level for two consecutive months. The Martin board in that case would give a 90-day notice to begin mothballing the center.

So far, that hasn’t happened, Hutsell said.

O’Neill also told commissioners in December that the juvenile center also will rely on other users to supplement the budget. Although Spokane County pulled out of being an official member, its juvenile offender overflow would go to Martin Hall. The Coeur d’Alene and Yakama tribes also are budgeted for 730 beds each next year at a rate of $185 per day, $135,050 each per year.

Hutsell said the number of juveniles at the hall has increased from an average daily population of 21 last year to an average of 30 through July of this year. May’s daily population average was 38. Hutsell said August’s numbers might be down a little, but by the time school starts, the numbers will increase, according to past statistics he said.

“We are pretty fiscally sound now,” he said.

“We want to take good care of the youth who are there,” he said.

The average stay in the hall for a juvenile is seven days.

Hutsell said that the hall’s expenses run an average of $150,000 to $155,000 per month and that it now takes an average of 28 juvenile offenders to be in the hall to break even.

“The Coeur d’Alene, Yakama and Spokane tribes have a significant population there,” Hutsell said.

He also said periodically the Kalispell, which maintain their own juvenile facility, will bring an inmate to Martin.

Although the hall last year had to wait several months for payment from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the BIA now is making payments on time and even beating some of the county clients with payments. That has made a big improvement in the facility’s cash flow.

The BIA has contracted with the center for $480,000 through June 2014, and to date revenue has surpassed that contract. They have done two contract extensions worth $170,000. Unlike the member counties, the federal agency is required to contract.

“That’s really helped our bottom line,” Hutsell said.

The hall’s reserves now sit at $650,000.

Hutsell said the board is now getting ready to do next year’s budget.

“It will probably mirror a lot of this last year,” he said.

Hutsell said officials are talking about installing new security cameras and recording equipment in the hall.

“We are really pursuing updating this equipment,” he said.

Hutsell estimates the updates to the 17-year-old facility will cost about $120,000. The update will help the juvenile hall be in compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

“I’m very confident about the hall staying open,” he said. “We have come a long way from a year ago. We’ve come back financially strong,” Hutsell said. “We serve our youth well, the ones who have to go there.”

He said the board is still looking at additional users which includes Nez Perce County at Lewiston. The 10-bed juvenile facility in Lewiston costs $500,000 annually to operate, and a decision there to close it could send more clients to Martin.

“They have some financial issues, because the youth facility is not utilized,” Hutsell said. “It’s a great facility in Lewiston, but if you don’t have any kids, how do you justify $700,000 to $800,000 to your county commissioners?”

“It’s a tough deal for the commissioners. It’s a great facility, a great program, but it just doesn’t pencil out,” Hutsell said.