Housing state inmates without reimbursement would be expensivefor Lincoln County, but replacing the crew with new employees wouldcost even more, said Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing.

According to calculations Rushing shared with county supervisorsMonday, hiring 10 new employees to replace the state inmate workcrew would cost $11,400 more for the 107 days remaining in thefiscal year than keeping the inmates and covering their expenseswith no help from the state. Sheriffs and supervisors statewide aretrying to decide what to do with their own state inmates after theMississippi Department of Corrections threatened to terminate the$20 per day reimbursement on March 15 to offset millions in budgetcuts.

“The biggest thing you’re going to have to look at is replacingthese guys on jobs they do,” Rushing said. “They provide a goodservice, but if there’s no funding for them, certainly we’re goingto have to address it.”

While keeping the 10 work crew inmates without state reimbursementfor the 15 remaining weeks of fiscal year 2010 would cost thecounty $32,100; hiring 10 new minimum wage employees would cost$43,500 for the same time period. If MDOC receives adequate fundingfrom the Legislature and maintains its reimbursements, it wouldcost the county $10,700 to keep the inmates.

The state inmate work crew performs a number of duties aroundLincoln County, serving on supervisors’ road crews, performinggeneral maintenance and cleanup around the courthouse, cooking inthe Lincoln County Jail’s kitchen and maintaining county outpostslike the Lincoln County Multi-Purpose Complex.

Complex manager Quinn Jordan told supervisors he basically couldn’tdo without state inmates’ services at the multi-purpose complex,where one inmate works full days Monday through Friday and puts ina few hours on weekends.

To replace his state inmate with one full-time employee, Jordansaid he would have to fire two of his three part-time workers togenerate the needed $19,000. The extra expenses and staff reductionwould be detrimental to running the complex, he said.

“It’s a killer for us. It’s a management nightmare without theinmate,” Jordan said. “We have 44 acres, four buildings and an RVpark to care of.”

District Three Supervisor Nolan Williamson was less enthusiasticabout covering the cost of state inmates.

“We’d love to keep them, but if they shove all that insurance on usand it’s going to cost us anyway, I’d just assume hire somebodypart time. That way the money would stay in Lincoln County,” hesaid.

With two weeks to go before the March 15 cutoff date, supervisorstabled any decision Monday and decided to ride it out and see whatthe Legislature does. After conferencing with the MississippiSheriff’s Association last week, Rushing said the distance betweenMDOC and the Legislature is narrowing, with lawmakers offering $10million and corrections requesting $16 million.

“I have a feeling they’re going to come to a compromise on it inthe next couple of weeks,” Rushing said. “Corrections haseverything on the state level held up.”

Rushing said inmate reimbursement has been figured in to MDOC’sfiscal year 2011 budget requests, confining the current crisis tothe next three months. But with the state’s revenue shortageexpected to double for the next fiscal year, the future ofcounties’ state inmate work programs could be questioned again nextyear.

“They’re saying they’re going to figure it into their 2011 budget -of course, they haven’t approved 2010 yet,” Rushing said.