fresno elections 2008

I don’t agree because we are out of money and have violated our legal debt limit. Additional debt will mean added violation of the state statutes.

The most pressing issue today is the ever climbing deficit. The main focus of my campaign is to make this fiscal wake up call to Fresno County and not only District #2. We have mortgaged the house to pay for operating expenses. This is wrong. Prudent people get a mortgage to build brick and mortar, an asset that will be used, produce returns and that will eventually allow you to borrow on it again. And Yes a jail is a good example of a brick and mortar asset. Until we resolve this deficit of historic proportions, I don’t think it is prudent to generate more debt. We should follow the example of other counties (such as Maricopa County in Arizona) that have been able to efficiently address the cost of operating their prison systems.

Long range plans should be made to replace the older facilities to create efficiency in staffing, utilities and maintenance. As these facilities are replaced, there should be a modest increase in the total number of beds. The county should seek grants and issue bonds to pay for new facilities when plans are finalized. I believe that an increased level of efficiency in the court operations drastically reduces the need to greatly expand the number of jail beds. Continued funding of new district attorney, public defender and probation positions is needed to best utilize the jail beds that we now have.

The County certainly does not have the money to build new jail facilities at this time. It is unfortunate that the County did not have the foresight when it built the juvenile facility to allocate some of those monies for a juvenile courthouse or a new jail. The $147 million expenditure for the juvenile facility was an excessive amount to spend with no court facility attached. The County currently pays $900,000/year to transport juveniles to court in the City of Fresno.

Instead of building another expensive jail, I would consider contracting for services for low-risk inmates. I also suggest we look at existing available vacant buildings such as the former Spaghetti Factory on R Street. These buildings could be “rehabbed” for low-risk inmates for considerably less cost than building a new facility.

What we need and what we can afford may be different things. I do agree that Fresno County needs a new jail facility, but before we abandon the old jail sites I would look to see if we could rehabilitate and expand the two other jails. If rehabilitation of existing sites was not a cost benefit to the county I would look for a new site. The county currently houses federal prisoners and receives compensation for this. According to the CAO the county receives more money than it costs to house the federal prisoners. One way to help pay off the mortgage of the new jail would be to use some of the excess proceeds garnered from these prisoners.

These are tough economic times for our county and we cannot currently afford to take on more long-term debt.

We must thoughtfully evaluate all our needs, but, public safety is the number one role of government, and having an adequate jail system is an essential component of a criminal justice system that protects our residents.

Even in good times, there are competing interests that vie for limited dollars for public infrastructure. Making sound budget decisions and establishing a prudent reserve will begin the process of acquiring funds needed to address our future infrastructure needs. Under recent prison reform, the state is committed to providing matching funds for up to 14,000 local jail beds, and Fresno County may seek such assistance in meeting its public safety obligation and infrastructure needs.