Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Counties balk at detention cost

Legislators want to make counties pay for detaining juveniles awaiting trial.

TALLAHASSEE - Florida counties would have to come up with $90-million next year under a plan that would require them to absorb the cost of holding juveniles for trial.

Saying it could force them to cut services or raise taxes, county officials have intensely lobbied against the plan, approved by House and Senate negotiators.

The state has long paid to hold juveniles charged with a crime. But during the past several years, the Legislature and the governor have made several attempts to push the cost to the counties.

This year, the Legislature had a new incentive: The state has until July 1 to meet a voter-passed mandate that requires the state to take over a bigger portion of the tab to fund the court system, at a cost of $116-million.

Lawmakers say the new plan should be a wash: Counties stop paying for courts and start paying for juvenile detention.

But county officials say the state will collect millions of dollars in filing fees and fines that will help pay for the courts.

"It's just a way for them to save money and push it down to us," said Pinellas County Commission Chairwoman Susan Latvala.

Pinellas County would owe the state $5.5-million; Hillsborough, $6.7-million; Pasco, $2.3-million; Hernando, $693,000; and Citrus, $925,000.

"This is not something we wanted to do," said state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, who sponsored the legislation (SB 2564). "We had no choice. We had to find $90-million."

Under the proposal, the state would continue to pay detention costs for juveniles who are convicted of crimes, as well as pretrial costs for out-of-state juveniles and those without any known residence.

It would also pay $3.5-million to help the state's 27 poorest counties cover pretrial costs.

Unhappy county lobbyists spent Tuesday scrambling to see what could be done to reverse the budget decision.

"We haven't given up on this," said Elithia Stanfield, a Pinellas County lobbyist. "Leadership has taken things out of the budget before."

Hillsborough Commissioner Kathy Castor said her county already pays more than $20-million a year for juvenile programs and millions more for runaway shelters and other programs.

"Local governments cannot continue to be looked at by the state as the backstop for the state budget crisis," Castor said.

The House rejected the plan two weeks ago 98-0, arguing that those costs should continue to be a state responsibility.

State Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, who led the opposition, said he will continue to look for options but is supporting the plan as the only way to balance the budget.

"It's in the budget now, but it's not the final product," Bilirakis said. "We still have four days left."