COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Sheriff's Office

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

 

DATE:

April 21, 2003

BOARD PUBLIC MEETING DATE:

May 6th, 9:45am

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Sheriff Don Horsley

SUBJECT:

FY 2003-04 Booking Fee

 
Recommendation

Adopt a Resolution setting the FY 2003-04 Booking Fees at $202.

 

Background

Pursuant to Government Code 29550, arresting agencies are required to pay a fee to book a prisoner into the San Mateo County Maguire Correctional Facility and any ancillary detention facilities. The fee was imposed eleven years ago as the result of State legislation that allowed the Board to impose a booking fee in response to reduced State funding in other program areas (i.e. State Realignment). Booking fees are based on the actual cost to book an inmate into the jail. In San Mateo County, the booking fees have historically been finalized through a process of negotiation with the cities.

 

In January 1994, standardization of the methodology for computing the fees was statutorily imposed, and the cost components of the fee were strictly defined in the stature, and narrowed in scope. Certain bookings, such as for arrests resulting from Court-ordered bench warrants, were exempted from the fee. A committee comprised of city police chiefs, the Sheriff, and the County Manager met and agreed upon a booking fee rate and methodology. The rate has been adjusted periodically starting from $159 for FY 1994-95, to the current fee of $192.00. In FY 1999-00, state legislation was enacted to reimburse cities for booking fees, based on prior year actual costs, up to a maximum statewide appropriation of $50 Million.

 

The fee structure is supported by a March, 2003 booking cost analysis and fee computation for FY 2003-04 performed by Maximus, an independent outside accounting firm. Maximus is very familiar with booking fee regulations and were a consultant in the 1994 State regulatory changes. They have been computing the booking fee and mandated State Daily Jail Bed Rate for San Mateo County for seven years, and have also been computing Sheriff's Office booking and jail fees for many other California jurisdictions, for about a dozen years. Maximus also produces the Countywide Overhead Cost Plan (COWCAP, or A-87 Plan) for San Mateo and most of the other 57 counties, under contract with the Controller's Office. In 1994, Maximus (at that time David M. Griffith & Associates, later purchased by Maximus) was engaged by the San Mateo County Police Chiefs to audit the Sheriff's Office booking fee computation, at that time performed by internal fiscal staff. Their analysis resulted in a number of methodology changes, which of course have incorporated by Maximus into San Mateo County's booking fee computation ever since. The booking fee rate has been adjusted annually since then to reflect cost-of-living inflation.

 

This is a public hearing pursuant to Government Code sections 29550 and 54952.2, and pursuant to statute, all affected agencies were notified of the increase, in writing, on March 18, 2003, in accordance with statutory 45-day noticing requirements.

 

Discussion

The current booking fee was set last April by Board Resolution 65204. The proposed increase of 5% corresponds to the net of negotiated labor cost increases, partially offset by cost savings from retirements and replacement at lower costs, and higher bookings. The fee will help defray increased labor and operating expenses associated with booking inmates. The most recent version of the Legislature's 2003-04 budget that we are aware of, contains an appropriation of $32,000,000 for payment of city booking fee reimbursements.

 

After the March 18th notification was sent out, some concern was expressed that San Mateo County's booking fee was placed among the top five highest of the State. We do not necessarily dispute that comparison, however, in addition to higher costs of living on the Peninsula, there is an additional factor which bears upon the booking fee in San Mateo County, that is not a factor in most, if any, other counties: Almost all of the first-offense and second-offense DUI (Driving Under the Influence) offenders in San Mateo County are taken to and admitted at one of the two First Chance Program facilities. From our informal research several years ago, this type of diversion program is generally not available in most other counties.

 

The fee computation, in its most simple form, is an equation with two factors: the jail's cost of booking services, divided by the total annual number of bookings. The proposed booking fee is based on 17,053 Maguire main jail bookings in 2001-02. According to the First Chance annual report statistics, there were an additional 2,904 First Chance admissions in 2001-02. Since these admissions would otherwise almost all be booked at County jail, and could be handled by the existing Admissions Unit, we asked Maximus to re-compute the booking fee based on a combined 19,957 bookings. From the results of this information-only re-computation, the FY 2003-04 booking fee would be just $173 - comparable to our actual booking fee of five years ago, and putting us probably somewhere in the top third - but almost certainly not in the top five - statewide booking fee rates.

 

The Sheriff's Office is certainly not suggesting that First Chance admissions be re-directed to the County jail, nor disputing the effectiveness or convenience for city police departments of admitting first offender DUI's to a diversion program such as First Chance, rather than the somewhat lengthier process of booking suspects at the main jail. However, we do desire that any comparison of booking fees with other jurisdictions be reviewed on a level playing field. Re-stated more simplistically, our cities are essentially paying 17% more in booking fees for the privilege of using First Chance drop-off facilities. As long as this is the desired alternative of our partner city police jurisdictions, we will continue to support this alternative community-based treatment program, successfully operated under contract with FACES, Inc. by the County Human Services Agency.

 

Vision Alignment

This action aligns with Vision 2010 Objective No.7, related to ensuring basic public safety for all citizens, and to the Partnership goals and objectives related to responsive, effective and collaborative government.

 

Fiscal Impact

It is anticipated that approximately $1.3 million in revenue will be generated from booking fees next year, including the 5% fee adjustment, and this total revenue amount is included in the Sheriff's recommended FY 2003-04 budget. The additional approximately $111,000 in revenue helps the department to meet the established 2003-04 budget target, and failure to approve the recommended fee adjustment will result in one additional peace office position being eliminated, with the real probability based on current vacancy rates of a lay-off requirement.

cc. D. Penny Bennett, Deputy County Counsel

San Mateo County Police Chief's Association