When the new public safety center was built, the county budgeted for 16 work release inmates a day, which would have provided the facility with more than $200,000.

But it only averages five.

Judge Mary Lynne James and Moffat County Undersheriff Jerry Hoberg came before the Moffat County commissioners Monday to discuss the discrepancy in what has been budgeted for the jail and what revenue is actually generated.

The reason there are concerns about the lack of work release inmates, Hoberg said, is because of the revenue lost by not having the number of inmates projected in the budget.

Inmates must pay $40 a day for their stay.

When the budget was developed to fund the new public safety center about five years ago, the Moffat County Sheriff’s department budgeted for 16 work release inmates a day, 365 days a year.

With each inmate paying $40 a day, this equals $233,000 a year.

With the current number of five inmates a day, the jail is only collecting about $73,000 a year.

“This budget was made before (Moffat County Sheriff) Buddy (Grinstead),” Hoberg said. “But now it’s his problem.”

In order to fill up the open space in the jail, one option being explored by the department is housing juveniles for which the jail would get reimbursed by the federal government.

At the end of a half-hour discussion, it was decided that, because planning for the safety center was based on future number projections, the department would have to take its lumps until those numbers increase.

“We were budgeting for the future so you must realize we’re not going to be 100 percent full right now,” Hoberg said.

Hoberg said Monday’s meeting was called because the department wanted to know if enough was being done to get applicable people into the work release program. In the work release program, inmates basically spend the night in jail and are released to work at their normal jobs during the day.

But James said there is nothing she can do because she already sentences everyone to work release who applies.

“You’re not going to change the number of work release inmates until you double the numbers coming through my courtroom,” she said.

Officials agreed that one of the problems is many of those sentenced in Moffat County Court do not qualify for work release because they don’t have full-time jobs.

“We don’t have enough appropriate people to sentence there,” James said.

A common group sentenced to work release in the past consisted of people convicted and sentenced to jail for driving under the influence.

But because of a law enforcement crackdown in that area, those numbers have gone down in recent years, Hoberg said.

“DUI numbers have gone down because people are getting smarter in the way of DUIs,” Hoberg said. “You’re basically working yourself out of revenue by doing a good job.”

James said there was nothing she could do.

“The bottom line is the facility was built for the year 2020 and we’re not there yet,” she said. “I’m not going to sentence someone to jail who does not deserve to go to jail.”

Josh Nichols can be reached at 824-7031 or jnichols@craigdailypress.com.