Chief sees jail revenue turning around

By SUE REID

Solon Police Chief Christopher P. Viland told City Council's safety and public properties committee last week that he is "cautiously optimistic" regarding long-term prospects for the city's jail.

The future of the Solon Jail is a budget question, Mr. Viland said during hearings earlier this year. The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department had not yet made a final determination as to what its use of suburban municipal jails is going to be, he said.

But Mr. Viland told the committee he received information recently from the sheriff's office that, as a result of merging its operations with the City of Cleveland, it may be sending more prisoners to suburban jails.

"Because of that information, I am now cautiously optimistic that we will be able to maintain a population that will allow us to continue to operate the jail," he said.

Mr. Viland included running the jail at its current level in his department's 2011 overall budget of about $7.7 million.

He told the committee the average daily population of the jail for January was 12.9. That is significantly better than at the beginning of 2010, he said, when the jail's average daily population was below five at times.

Also in 2010, total revenue for the jail was less than half of what it was the previous year. In 2010, revenues were $103,251, Finance Director William Weber said, and expenditures were $827,701.

In 2009, expenditures were $963,000, and the city received $246,000 in revenue. In 2008, expenditures for the jail were approximately $929,000, and the city received about $307,000 in revenue, Mr. Weber said. Money to run the jail comes mostly from the general fund and the city income tax, which is the main source of revenue for the general fund, he said.

Mr. Viland said he would like the average daily jail population to be around 15 prisoners or more.

Based on how the sheriff's office will be moving prisoners, Solon's jail could see a possible dip in the number for March and April. Long-term prospects for occupancy remain higher at this point, he said.

Mr. Viland said Solon is in the process of finalizing the contracts with the Village of Orange, "and we continue to try to re-establish contacts with other organizations that may need jail space."

Solon also contracts with Shaker Heights, Bentleyville and Woodmere. In addition to Solon, other nearby areas with full-service jails include Bedford Heights, Euclid and Geauga County.

The jail is staffed with seven full-time corrections officers and six part-time officers. Sgt. William McGee is the jail administrator.

The full-service jail was built in 1997 and is located on two floors attached to the police department. It was built into the new police station as part of the plans.

From its inception to its construction, the jail was never designed to be a revenue source for the city, Mr. Viland said.

"Taking in revenue as part of operation of the jail to offset our costs is always an issue, but there was never an intent it would be revenue producing," he said. "In order to operate and function as a full-service jail, we needed to offset our cost by revenue generation, but as a whole it was not intended to be a source of revenue for the city."

Jails cost money, Mr. Viland said, similar to a service like picking up trash, because the service has to be provided.

"The fact we had it allowed us to generate some revenue which was always part of the plan," he said.

The biggest benefit of Solon having its own jail, Mr. Viland said, is that a full-service jail allows the department to keep patrol officers and patrol staff.

"Without a jail, a significant portion of our patrol time would be spent with transporting people out of the city," he said.

The jail is primarily used for street arrests, he said, including individuals who have been caught driving under the influence or other various crimes. In addition to on-street arrests, the jail holds work release prisoners from Cuyahoga County as well as sentenced inmates from the county.