Request By:
Ms. Susan P. Spickard
Assistant County Attorney
Jefferson County Attorney's Office
1001 Fiscal Court Building
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General
On behalf of the Jefferson County Attorney, Mr. J. Bruce Miller, you raise questions concerning the state funding of juvenile detention facilities.
The Jefferson County Youth Center (juvenile detention facilities) is a part of the Metropolitan Correctional Services Department. See KRS 441.005(1), defining "jail" , KRS 67B.030 and 67B.050. As you say, the Corrections Cabinet is permitted, by KRS 441.012, to inspect all jails, including the one in question. After the inspection of that facility by the Corrections Cabinet, representatives of the youth center requested state payments, as authorized by KRS 441.007 and 441.017. They were advised that no payments would be made until an opinion from this office is issued on the question presented by you.
Your question is whether or not the state payment authorized in KRS 441.007 includes payments for the number of beds maintained at the youth center, and whether or not the training expense allowance provided for in KRS 441.017 includes a training allowance for working at the youth center?
KRS 441.007 presently reads:
(1) For the care and maintenance of prisoners charged with or convicted of violations of state law, each county shall receive a contribution from the state treasury for the incarceration of state prisoners in an amount equal to the total amount paid to the jailer in fiscal year 1980-81 for fees pursuant to KRS 64.150 plus the product of the number of permanent beds in the jail, as determined by the corrections cabinet, times two hundred and seventy dollars ($270)."
Under the current KRS 441.007, each county, for the care and maintenance of prisoners charged with or convicted of violations of state law, is to receive from the state a contribution out of the state treasury equal to the total amount paid the jailer for fees under KRS 64.150 in fiscal year 1980-81 plus the product of the number of permanent beds in the jail, as determined by the Corrections Cabinet, times two hundred and seventy dollars ($270). Under subsection (5), the number of permanent beds in each jail shall be established by information supplied and certified by the Corrections Cabinet. If the permanent jail beds in Kentucky, as determined by Corrections, exceeds five thousand (5,000) beds, the two hundred and seventy dollars ($270) bed allotment mentioned in subsection (1) shall be reduced proportionately.
In answer to your first question, the state payment is made to a particular county jail, here the Metropolitan Correctional Services Department, based (in using the formula) upon the total number of permanent beds in the entire jail complex. The statute makes no provisions for any breakdown based upon a part of the complex, such as the youth center. In the 1982 enactment of KRS 441.007, that statute was to have been considered repealed as of July 15, 1984.
KRS 441.007 was amended in the 1984 session by S.B. 361, Section 1, effective July 13, 1984. For the care and maintenance of prisoners charged with or convicted of violations of state law, each county shall receive a contribution from the state treasury in an amount equal to that paid to the county pursuant to this section in fiscal year 1983-84. Any additional monies appropriated for county jails shall be allocated on the basis of a formula comprised of these factors: (a) Sixty percent (60%) of the allocation shall be based upon the amount of the 1983-84 funding formula each county received; (b) Ten percent (10%) of the allocation shall be based upon each county's comparative ranking of median household income in inverse order, as determined by the 1980 federal census of population; and (c) Thirty percent (30%) of the allocation shall be based on the proportion of each county's age at risk population (18-34) to the state total, as determined by the 1980 federal census of population.
Thus beginning with July 13, 1984, the county jail aid will be that as described immediately above. The number of beds in the youth center or any other part of the metropolitan jail system has been dropped by the 1984 legislation from the formula used in determining such jail financial aid. S.B. 361 provides, in amending KRS 441.007, that in no event shall the state contribution paid to a county involve less than twenty-four thousand dollars ($24,000) for a fiscal year.
Now, as concerns KRS 441.017, you ask whether the training expense allowance provided in that statute includes a training allowance for personnel working at the youth center?
Under the current statute, KRS 441.017(2), each jailer shall receive an expense allowance to help defray the costs of his and his staff's participation in the local corrections training program. The expense allowance shall be in the amount of three hundred dollars ($300) per month payable out of the state treasury, provided that such payments shall be discontinued if the jailer fails to complete basic training within one (1) year of taking office.
The expense allowance is not broken down so as to isolate some part of the jail, such as the juvenile youth center. The allowance is for the jailer for the whole jail operation.
S.B. 361 (1984) amends KRS 441.017, but subsection (2) of the statute was not amended. In fact, the amendment relates to regional jails. H.B. 310 (1984) amended KRS 441.017, but the amendment concerns a county having no jail.
CONCLUSIONS
(1) Under current law, KRS 441.007, the state contribution for jail operations is paid to the jailer, i.e., to the Metropolitan Correctional Services Department, which is managed by the executive director and his assistant directors. KRS 67B.030 and 67B.040. The "number of beds in the jail" as a part of the existing formula for the contribution is not broken down or isolated in terms of the number of beds in the county youth center, although the number of such beds should be considered in the total "jail" (MCSD) beds calculated. The contribution is based, under the formula, on the total permanent beds in the "jail" (here, MCSD).
(2) In the 1984 session, S.B. 361, effective July 13, 1984, amended KRS 441.007. However, the number of the permanent beds in the jail facility has been dropped from the contributions formula.
(3) Under the current KRS 441.017(2), each jailer (here the MCSD) shall receive an expense allowance to help defray the costs of his and his staff's participation in the local corrections training program, under certain conditions. The expense allowance is not broken down so as to isolate some part of the MCSD, such as the youth center. The allowance is for the entire detention operation.
(4) S.B. 361 (1984) amends KRS 441.017, but subsection (2) of that statute was not amended (the allowance provision).
I hope this will be helpful to you.