BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

PAINTSVILLE — The Big Sandy Regional Detention Center is teetering on the edge of financial collapse. In what officials describe as a last-ditch effort to keep the facility operating, the regional jail board is preparing to ask its four member counties—Johnson, Martin, Magoffin and Lawrence—to approve an increase in the inmate housing rate.

Auditor Darrell Blair of Wells and Company delivered the grim assessment during an Oct. 23 jail board meeting, presenting figures that show the detention center spent far more than it earned in Fiscal Year 2025. Revenues totaled $2,951,498 against expenditures of $3,615,686, leaving a deficit of $533,487 even after adding $130,701 in commissary income.

“We really don’t have the money in the bank to fund another year’s expenses, going over like we did last year,” Blair warned. “You don’t have enough money in the bank to cover your bills plus next month’s payroll. You’re pretty much about broke. We’ve got to figure out what we can do to ease the pain with the finances.”

The auditor said meaningful cuts would be difficult, noting that food costs cannot be reduced and that salaries totaling more than $2 million annually are the only area where savings could make a difference.

“Nobody likes to cut wages, nobody likes to lay people off, but like I said, you guys are about broke and you’ve got to do something,” he said.

The jail is also facing an insurance payment of $350,141 due in January, which must be paid in full to avoid a $1,750 penalty. Bookkeeper Pam Burgess said that in previous years, she was able to set aside funds monthly and pay early enough to qualify for a 1% discount. Now, she said, that is impossible as payroll and bills consume every available dollar.

“With the salaries—that’s what’s doing it,” Burgess said. “Salaries and wages have tripled in the last five years.”

The auditor urged the board to open discussions with the four counties about increasing their inmate housing payments, which are currently $31.34 per inmate per day.

“Our counties pay the lowest housing rate in the state,” Burgess noted.

Jail Administrator Byron Hansford said the financial trouble stems from declining inmate numbers.

“I’ve been telling you this day was coming for two years,” he said. “And I can tell you this: when you start cutting pay, they’re going to walk out the door. It’s that simple. And you can’t run this jail with just a few employees. If you do, your liability goes up.”

In earlier years, the jail averaged about 100 state inmates per day, Hansford said, each bringing in roughly $35 per day. He explained that between June 2021 and January 2023, the total average inmate population at BSRDC was about 240.

“That’s when we were putting money in the bank,” said Hansford.

Since January 2023, the average inmate population has dropped to 208.

“The way we ran this jail used to be on the back of the state,” Hansford said.

Hansford traced the downturn to a lawsuit filed by the Kentucky Jailers Association against the Department of Corrections in January 2023 over the delayed pickup of “controlled intakes.”

“They weren’t coming and getting their controlled intakes,” he said. “Why? I don’t know. I heard they were thinking [the DOC] would end up giving more money to the jails. It didn’t work that way. They started taking inmates from us.”

Payroll overtime has also surged, reaching 597 hours in October, up from 352 in September. Hansford said the increase was due to six employees leaving for other jobs.

Board member Steve Rose said a $4 or $5 increase in the housing rate would not be enough.

“If we were living off the state, and the state was paying $4 or $5 more than we are, we can’t blame it all on the state,” he said. “You could take that $4 and add it to the four counties that we’ve got here, and it still ain’t going to come close because of the raises that were given. That’s just a fact. But that was to keep people.”

To cover the looming insurance bill, Burgess said, the counties would need to pay “upward of $47” per inmate per day.

“If we don’t pay something on our insurance before January—and I don’t know how we can do that—it’s going to be $1,750 finance charge,” she said.

Hansford said he is exploring new partnerships to house inmates from other counties, an arrangement he described as potentially “huge.” He added that housing federal inmates is another possibility, though “it’s a lot of responsibility.”

“There are two ways to solve the problem: more inmates or more money,” Hansford said.

The board agreed to review the audit, develop possible solutions, and reconvene at a special meeting.

After having no quorum Oct. 31 for a special meeting, the board set the meeting for Thursday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. to continue the discussion.