ROCHESTER — Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose is shopping for alternate jail space after Olmsted County commissioners voted Tuesday to increase rates in the local adult detention center.
“At the daily rate of $323 per inmate, Dodge County simply cannot justify continuing this contract when comparable detention services are available at a substantially lower cost,” Rose wrote in a letter to the Olmsted County commissioners on Thursday.
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Olmsted County currently charges other counties $75 a day per inmate housed in its facility, with the new rate set to start in January.
With calculated operational expenses at roughly $323 per inmate, four of seven Olmsted County commissioners said they wanted to equalize the expense, since Dodge County isn’t paying for its own jail operation.
All other counties in southeast Minnesota operate jails and can host Olmsted County residents at the statewide $75 rate, and commissioners said Dodge County's lack of similar expense creates a unique benefit.
The planned rate increase comes as commissioners have been discussing the potential need for a new Olmsted County detention center in the future.
With Dodge County sending eight to 10 detainees to Olmsted County daily, Rose said the number is sufficient to warrant building and operating a local jail.
He said Dodge County's annual cost of roughly $200,000 per year would have increased to $300,000 under a proposed daily rate increase to $100, which was a compromise reached with Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson.
Torgerson and Rose have said any payments made help offset costs of jail operations without adding significantly to Olmsted County expenses, since the number of detainees doesn’t require added staffing or expansion of existing space.
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Since receiving word of the planned $323 rate in January, Rose said he’s contacted sheriffs in Goodhue, Mower, Wabasha and Rice counties, and each said they have space to house Dodge County detainees at a lower rate set by an agreement through the Minnesota Sheriff's Association.
“While I respect the board’s responsibility to make fiscal decisions on behalf of Olmsted County taxpayers, I also have an obligation to responsibly manage the resources entrusted by Dodge County taxpayers,” Rose wrote to the Olmsted County commissioners.
He also suggested the change could add expenses for both counties, since they share services used by detainees, which can be provided without extra travel and staff time under the existing agreement.
“Our relationship has also benefited other shared services between our counties, including the public defender’s office and community corrections, by allowing Dodge County detainees to remain close to court proceedings, attorneys and probation staff,” Rose wrote in his letter. “This arrangement has provided operational efficiencies for both counties.”
He pointed out housing a detainee in Rice County could require a public defender or probation officer to make a 125-mile, round-trip drive, if a face-to-face meeting with a detainee is required.
“While I sincerely regret any hardship this decision may create for those departments and their employees, as sheriff, I have a responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interests of the taxpayers of Dodge County,” Rose said in his letter.