Supervisors to Consider an Even Higher Jail Booking Fee

Confronted by an increasingly bleak budget picture, county supervisors will be asked next month to approve a new fee to area cities and school districts--one more than twice as high as an already-proposed fee that has local governments in a frenzy.

According to a county administrative office report sent to the Board of Supervisors on Monday, auditors have determined that the full cost of booking an inmate into the County Jail is between $154 and $183. Ronald S. Rubino, the county’s chief budget officer, said Tuesday that he intends to recommend that the board pass on the full cost to cities, though it will be up to the supervisors whether they accept, scale back or altogether scuttle the fee.

Either of those figures is sure to fuel complaints from Orange County cities, 26 of whom sent representatives to a board meeting last month to complain about a proposed $75.50 booking fee intended to make up for shortfalls caused by cuts in state funding. Even at the lower amount, they said the fee would force cities to consider layoffs and cutbacks in local law enforcement.

The Orange County division of the League of Cities has helped coordinate response to the proposed fee, and Executive Director Bill Hodge said Tuesday that the new proposal will only stiffen opposition.

“It’s kind of like carrying gasoline to a fire,” he said. “We were talking about how many fingers we were going to lose. Now it looks like we may be talking about an arm or a leg.”

But rising gasoline prices, a deteriorating local economy and salary overruns by several county departments have created a bleak budget picture, and officials say they have to consider any option that might raise money to keep county services running.

“The county budget is extremely tight, and economic conditions warrant caution and careful monitoring,” County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider wrote in his report to the board. He cited rising unemployment and drops in both housing sales and non-residential building permits as examples of areas where a slowing economy is squeezing the county’s projected revenues.

Moreover, the rising price of gas could cost the county an extra $1.5 million in expenses this year. Projected salary overruns, particularly in the Sheriff’s Department, also total several million dollars.

Supervisor Don R. Roth, chairman of the five-member board, has continually reminded his colleagues during the past several weeks of the county’s worsening economic picture. Roth supports the jail booking fee, but even though the board approved it “in principle” several months ago, supervisors could still reject it when the matter comes before them again in December.

After representatives of Orange County cities appeared before the board last month to complain about the potential impact of the jail booking fee on their operations, several board members said they would consider deferring its imposition until the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

If the board declines to levy the fee in January, it will leave the county’s 1990-91 budget short by an additional $2.1 million.