OC Taps Into Reserves To Cover Sheriff's Department's $11.4M Deficit

SANTA ANA (AP) — Orange County is tapping into its reserves to cover a Sheriff's Department budget shortfall blamed mostly on the state's prisoner realignment program.

The Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to take $11.4 million from reserves to cover much of the department's deficit.

City News Service says county Budget Director Frank Kim told the board that state prisoners are taking jail beds that had been rented by the federal government to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Marshals Service detainees.

The federal government pays $118 to $123 per bed while the state reimburses the county $60 to $70 per bed.

A federal court order required the state to reduce its overcrowded prison population. A state law that took effect on Oct. 1 shifted lower-level offenders to county jails.

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