Jail finally gets funding

County also approves Sheriff, nursing home request

By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — The Belknap County Delegation has approved funding for four corrections officers, assuring that the 18,1000-square-foot, 72-bed Community Corrections Center will be able to open this year.

The delegation approved three supplemental appropriation requests totaling $256,852 when it met Tuesday night, with all of the money coming from the county’s fund balance, rather than increased taxes.

Approved were $95,000 for the Corrections Department, $26,000 for the Sheriff’s Department and $135,852 for the Health and Human Services budget, which pays for private nursing home care for county residents.

Belknap County Commission Chairman Dave DeVoy (R-Sanbornton) thanked the legislators for their action, particularly with regard to the Corrections Department, saying that it ensures that the $8 million Community Corrections Center will be able to open with sufficient staffing and that legislators “can all take a victory lap.”

Commissioners had delayed work on the project due to uncertainty over whether or not the delegation would approve funding for the four corrections officers Belknap County Corrections Superintendent Keith Gray deemed essential for security of the staff and inmates. Three weeks ago they authorized Gray to hire the new officers, even though they were not assured that the additional funds would be forthcoming.

Following the vote, both Gray and Belknap County Sheriff Mike Moyer thanked the delegation for approving the additional funds.

Key to overturning a 7-7 vote on May 22, in which a larger supplemental appropriation request for the two departments was defeated, were switches in votes by Delegation Chairman Herb Vadney (R-Meredith) and Delegation Clerk Marc Abear (R-Meredith).

The Corrections Department’s request, which was reduced from the May 22 request by $41,500, passed 9-5. Also supporting the increase were Rep. Dennis Fields (R-Sanbornton), Rep. Donald Flanders (R-Laconia), Rep. David Huot (D-Laconia), Rep. Peter Varney (R-Alton), Rep. Peter Spanos (R-Laconia), Rep. Tim Lang (R-Sanbornton) and Rep. John Plummer (R-Belmont)

Opposing the request were Rep. Glen Aldrich (R-Gilford), Rep. Barbara Comtois (R-Barnstead), Rep. Ray Howard (R-Alton), Rep. Norman Silber (R-Gilford) and Rep. Michael Sylvia (R-Belmont).

The $26,000 appropriation for the Sheriff’s Department passed 13-1 with only Sylvia opposed, and the Health and Human Services request passed 11-3 with Sylvia, Silber and Howard opposed.

Both Sylvia and Howard maintained that there was enough money in the budget passed by the delegation in order for the corrections officers to be hired without a supplemental appropriation.

Belknap County Commissioner Glen Waring (R-Gilmanton) said that while taxes won’t increase this year, the result of the delegation’s action is to create a $2.2 million problem next year due to the decline in the fund balance, which has been used in recent years to reduce the amount to be raised by taxes.

“We’re kicking a bigger can down the road, which will come back to bite us all,” said Waring. It is projected that only $500,000 will be available to reduce county taxes next year. The additional funds approved Tuesday night raise the amount to be be used to reduce taxes in this year’s $27.487 million budget to just over $1.9 million.

The impact of the additional spending will further reduce the projected $984,826 in the fund balance at the end of 2017, which is a sharp drop from the $3,169,081 balance at the beginning of 2017.

Newly appointed Belknap County Attorney Andrew Livernois expressed his support for the supplemental appropriation for the Corrections Department, saying that it was very important to get the new center open and provide more programs for people dealing with drug abuse problems.

He said that other counties in the state have had seen major reductions in their jail populations due to the success of programs like those which will be offered at the center, which is now slated to open in late October.

A grand opening ceremony for the Community Corrections Center is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Aug. 17.

Gray said work will start on the second phase of the project, which entails work on the current jail, next week. The gymnasium area, which currently houses female inmates, will be closed and serve as a staging area for renovations to the jail. He said some female inmates and a few male inmates will be transferred temporarily to Carroll County, which is charging $10 a day, which is basically what it costs to feed them. He expects those inmates to be returned after Labor Day weekend, when the training will have been completed for the new control center and staff will be working in the new corrections center.