Polk may use gambling money to cover costs

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Polk may use gambling money to cover costs
The special election approving a jail for the county and prisoner transportation added expenses to the budget.

By KEVIN DOBBS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
April 29, 2005

Polk County would use gambling revenue to help cover $9.1 million in unexpected costs under a plan to be discussed Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.The added costs are spread across several departments, but by far the largest share, more than $3 million, is attributed to jail overcrowding.The county's jail complex in Des Moines has been overcrowded for years, and taxpayers will spend about $4.5 million this year to ship hundreds of inmates to jails in other counties. Officials say that estimate rises monthly.
Sheriff Dennis Anderson campaigned for a new 1,500-bed jail - three times the current capacity - on the premise that a growing population and Iowa's methamphetamine epidemic have caused irreversible overcrowding.New cells, he said, will save millions of dollars. Voters agreed, and in March passed a $68 million borrowing plan for a jail that will open north of Des Moines in 2008.When the supervisors approved this year's budget, they did not know when the jail vote would be, or whether the plan would pass. They must now budget about $200,000 for election costs and another $2.7 million to pay for land and other costs tied to the jail project, said Deb Anderson, the supervisors' fiscal adviser.
County revenue is $2.8 million higher than forecast. For example, the county's health department received more grant money and the county attorney collected more than expected in fines.That money plus $6.3 million in profit from the county-owned Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino ,will offset the expenses, Deb Anderson said Thursday.Jeff Riese, president of the Polk-Des Moines Taxpayers Association, said he finds no glaring problems with the plan.
"I'm a little disappointed that the original budget estimates weren't closer, but it's pretty typical of how things run in government," he said.If the supervisors approve the plan, the county will end the year with $57 million in reserve, which is about 31 percent of its annual spending.Republican supervisors Robert Brownell and E.J. Giovannetti want that reduced significantly, arguing that if the county can afford to keep more than $50 million on hand, it can afford to reduce taxes.
"Reserves over 22 or 23 percent are excessive," Brownell said Thursday.

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