JOLIET – Recent Will County budget talks have sparked a renewed interest in a 2010 audit that was completed but never released highlighting glaring overtime issues and significant understaffing of correctional officers within the Will County Jail.

In the five years after the audit’s completion, the Will County Sheriff’s Office – which was under a different administration at the time – never released the audit. Instead the 50-page document was categorized as a preliminary draft so it could not be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the media or by the public.

The Herald-News obtained a copy of the report on Thursday, after filing a FOIA request for it Tuesday. Will County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer and Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley said Thursday they did not know why the department would not release it in the past.

It’s unclear how much the county spent to hire the Chicago-based Baker Tilly, an accounting and advisory firm, in 2010 to do the report.

The Will County Board has historically underfunded the sheriff’s department every year, forcing the department to go over on its overtime budget while grappling with understaffing at the jail. Hoffmeyer said Thursday not much has changed since the 2010 audit was conducted and that the jail remains “terribly understaffed” with ballooning overtime costs.

In its findings, the audit cited a “significant staffing deficit” at the Will County Adult Detention Facility, while noting that the jail placed inmates in housing pods on administration lockdown an average of 16.7 times during every four-week period between November 2009 to September 2010.

At the height of the problem, inmates were placed on lockdown about two dozen times over a four-week period between May and August 2010. The study noted the jail was understaffed by about 26.4 full-time equivalent correctional officers at its main facility in 2010.

Understaffing and overtime costs continue to be a problem at the county jail, and it’s unclear whether the issues will be resolved in the near future.

The sheriff’s department spent $3.2 million in overtime in fiscal 2014. The department spent $3 million in fiscal 2015, although it was budgeted for only $1.2 million.

While budget talks are ongoing, the sheriff’s overtime line item has been under-budgeted yet again for the upcoming fiscal year. To avoid last year’s political battle over the tax levy, Will County Executive Larry Walsh Sr. proposed a budget with a flat levy.

The proposed spending plan – lacking adequate funding – zeroed out the sheriff’s department overtime line item.

To correct that, the County Board on Thursday voted for an increased tax levy with the intent to allot some of the $1.3 million in increased revenue toward the department’s overtime costs.

County Board Finance Committee Chair Mike Fricilone said he’s asked staff in the sheriff’s department to do a cost comparison for overtime and hiring additional personnel.

“We want to see if it’s a savings to have additional personnel,” Fricilone said.

Contract negotiations between the county and the jail correctional officers have been ongoing for three years, with pay increases and other issues at the forefront.