City Accepts 30-Percent Cut in State Jail Payments

Jay Barrett/KMXT

The Kodiak City Council last night accepted a 30 percent cut in lease fees from the State of Alaska for providing jail services. As City Manager Aimee Kniaziowski told the council, the reduction was a result of the state’s record budget shortfall.

“The Department of Corrections was tasked with spreading all the community jail funding through multiple communities at a much reduced rate,” she said. “So the proposal received was a 30 percent reduction. Our bed capacity is always at 100 percent – at least has been for the past year or so, so we were in that upper echelon of people that could receive about 70 percent of the funding they would normally be eligible for under the old program. So we would receive 991,552 for FY15. And again, what was due to the statewide revenue shortages.”

She said the jail is almost always filled to capacity, and the city has always subsidized state detainees.

“We do have some local people arrested on local charges,” Kniaziowski said, “but most of the inmates in our jail are there, arrested and being held under state charges.”

Kniaziowski recommended the council approve the amendment to the lease with the state, saying she felt Kodiak was lucky to only get a 30-percent cut in community jail funds. The council did not debate the matter and passed it unanimously.