County approves Martin Hall budget

Whitman County commissioners Monday adopted a budget for Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Center.

Rates for next year will be the same, $155 per bed per day. For non members, the rate increased from $185 per bed per day to $200 per bed per day.

Commissioner Art Swannack, who represents Whitman County on the Martin Hall board, said the number of juveniles has decreased since the summer, but he anticipates the numbers will increase the next couple of months as they have in the past.

Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens and Whitman counties make up the consortium of counties which use Martin Hall. Spokane was among the counties using the juvenile hall but backed out of the consortium a couple of years ago. That county now uses the facility for juvenile delinquent overflow.

The operating budget calls for 27 beds filled at $155 per bed per day. Stevens County is budgeted for the most beds at 2,555 beds per year at a cost of $396,025, followed by Spokane and Douglas counties which are budgeted for 1,825 beds per year at a cost of $282,875 each. Asotin and Whitman counties each are budgeted for 912.5 beds at $141,437.50 per year.

Adams and Pend Oreille counties are each budgeted for 730 beds costing each county $113,150. Ferry and Lincoln counties are each budgeted for 182.5 beds per year costing $28,287.

Three Native American tribes also use the facility. Spokane, Yakama and the Coeur d’Alene tribes are scheduled to use 2,190 beds per year at a cost of $438,000.

Total anticipated income from the counties and tribes is $1,965,525.

Total expenses for the facility for 2015 are projected at $1,933,765.

Since 1996, each county paid for a set number of bed-days per year.

Martin Hall’s board late in 2012 adopted a “pay-as-you-go” policy with each county paying for beds actually used.

In April, commissioners signed an amended agreement that helped sustain the facility for one more year and requires each county to make payments to the hall whether the county has juveniles housed there or not.

The new agreement meant Whitman County paid between $40,000 to $45,000 this year.