NORWICH – City of Norwich Supervisor Linda E. Natoli expressed her dissatisfaction with “the way things are going” at the Chenango County Public Safety Facility by casting two opposing votes on resolutions that came before the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
The Ward 4, 5 and 6 representative was the sole county leader to oppose the immediate appropriation of $52,200 for part-time officers, $84,000 for overtime and $50,000 for food expenses at the facility. She joined Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, in also voting against authorizing the creation of another full-time correctional facility nurse position at the jail.
“I just think we need to know more about what’s going on up there. I don’t think we know enough,” she said following the meeting. She did not elaborate.
When he initially requested the appropriations last month, Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren told the Safety & Rules Committee that the majority of the funds were needed to accommodate for a shortage of corrections officers. He said the department has “been in a massive training and hiring” mode this year. That, coupled with the recent flood emergency, made for a difficult first year at the new facility on Upper Ravine Road in the Town of Norwich, he said.
The second nurse has been mandated by the New York State Department of Corrections. Chairman Richard B. Decker told the board that the Sheriff’s Office was “very fortunate” to find a full-time registered nurse to take the job for $16.90 an hour.
Both of the resolutions are being funded by revenues earned from farming in prisoners from outside the county. The jail has a population of about 90 inmates, of which approximately half are from outside the county. The business of taking in inmates is expected to generate $312,000 in revenues for 2006.
Prior to voting on the additional 2006 appropriations, Flanagan and Supervisor Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, warned that additional employees will only add to the retirement and health insurance costs that taxpayers will shoulder in the future.
“Are the fringe benefits figured in there?” Flanagan asked. “Are pension costs addressed in this budget? ... We pay 18 cents for every $1 in retirement. We should address that cost.”
Finance Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said his committee has asked the Sheriff to provide those figures. He also said the county’s aim is to fund the new facility’s operations with boarding in revenue, not sales tax. He said revenues generated from boarding in “will be figured out as we go on.”
“It would be very foolish to anticipate boarding in revenue that we might not get,” Brown said. “The object is not to go on the levy (for operations’ costs). During this first full year, we should be setting aside the boarding in and applying it to revenues.”
“This county, like the state, is in a desperate state in terms of retirement costs. ... The costs that we see now are nothing compared to what we are going to see,” he said.