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August 26, 2002 SKAGIT COUNTY JAIL HOLDS DOWN COSTS BY GENERATING MORE REVENUE SKAGIT COUNTY - The cost of operating the Skagit County Jail has not increased since 1996 thanks to the generation of new revenue sources, according to Chief Dan Slattery. The actual budget to operate the facility has increased by $488,983 while revenue generated has doubled. To keep operating costs low, Skagit County prisoners pick up trash, wash SKAT buses, pay for their room and board when on work release, and pay a premium to make phone calls. When the current Skagit County Jail facility opened in 1983 it was rated by the State of Washington for a capacity of 83 beds. It has 158 beds today. The in-house jail population has increased from an average of 31.5 average daily prisoners to 144 in 2001. The jail also has an out-of-custody program with an average of 35 inmates to monitor and control, which brings the total daily population of the Skagit County Jail to 175 inmates for 2001. To help deal with the current inmate population, the jail is currently under construction to increase the bed capacity by 22 additional beds. Operating on a budget of $2,623,065 in 2001, the Skagit County Jail generated $1,081,487 in revenue, for an actual cost to Skagit County taxpayers of $1,541,578. "The actual cost of operating the jail, even with an increased prisoner population is actually less than in 1996," said Slattery. "The size of our staff has not increased in three years." In 2001 the Skagit County Jail received $601,911 in revenue for providing room and board for prisoners from other jurisdictions, including Skagit County cities. The jail's programs received $168,997, paid by inmates on work release and electronic home monitoring. Commissary sales contribute $39,367 of income. A surcharge on inmate phone calls generated $42,318. Booking fees paid by prisoners were $30,711. Inmates wash the SKAT buses, producing $16,000, and litter crews earned $54,024. In addition to these revenues, the Skagit County Jail received $100,123 from the Federal Government for the Federal Criminal Alien Assistance Program, with $892.99 recouped by collection agencies for medical bills owed by inmates to Skagit County, and $800 reimbursed from Social Security. "We're taxpayers too," said Slattery. "We want to run a safe and efficient facility."
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