Kendall County sheriff’s updated budget has no jail guard layoffs

YORKVILLE – Kendall County Sheriff Dwight Baird will not lay off any corrections deputies at the county jail in Yorkville under his budget plan for fiscal 2023.

Last summer, Baird proposed closing the Yorkville lockup, eliminating 40 jail guards and other related positions and sending all the inmates to the Kane County jail in St. Charles, for a savings of up to $1.5 million.

The sheriff’s office continues to forecast a drop in the inmate population when the state’s new cashless bail law takes effect with the start of the new year – for a jail already considered to be under-utilized.

However, concerns from local police departments and the Kendall County Board over closing the jail facility entirely had Baird rethinking the plan.

The sheriff soon announced that only the south wing of the jail would be closed and that 11 corrections officer posts would be eliminated, although only eight would require direct layoffs.

By Sept. 7, Baird told the County Board that because of attrition, only one guard would need to be laid off.

Now, the sheriff is reporting that no layoffs will be necessary and that the jail needs to hire two new corrections deputies in order to bring the facility up to its newly authorized strength of 29 guards.

However, reducing the current capacity of the jail from 205 beds to 105, along with the reduction in guards, still will save the county more than $800,000 for fiscal 2023, starting Dec. 1.

On Nov. 2, there were 79 inmates in the county jail. Of these, 57 were from Kendall County, 19 were federal prisoners and there were two from Cook County and one from Kane County, Undersheriff Bobby Richardson said.

The $4.9 million 2023 corrections budget submitted by the sheriff’s office is down from this year’s $5.3 million spending plan, a savings of $367,000 after factoring in salary increases, Richardson said.

An estimated $171,000 in costs to house female inmates at the Kane County lockup is also included in the budget, Richardson said.

In addition to the savings in salaries, the county administration will save about $440,000 in health care and insurance premiums, he said.

The corrections budget for the sheriff’s office is part of a larger $12.1 million spending plan that also includes patrol operations, courthouse security and record-keeping.

In addition to the jail guards, the sheriff’s office fields 44 deputies patrolling the county and about eight deputies providing security at the Kendall County Courthouse, Richardson said.

Along with the command staff, sergeants and civilian employees, about 94 people work in the sheriff’s office.

The attrition that has occurred at the jail in recent months has resulted from retirements, deputies going to work with other police departments and officers leaving law enforcement profession altogether, Richardson said.

Three jail guards decided to stay with Kendall County but to move to the patrol division. They are undergoing police academy training and soon will become a part of the 44-member patrol force, Richardson said.

The south wing of the jail already has been closed, and the County Board is expected to approve the sheriff’s budget plan later this month.

Meanwhile, the board approved a new contract with Kane County for housing each other’s prisoners.

The current contract, now expiring, calls for a $70 per day fee to be paid to the county accepting a prisoner from the other.

Under the new deal, the rate goes to $75 per day for two years, followed by another two years at a rate of $78 per day. The Kane County Board has yet to approve the contract.

Sometimes inmates are transferred to a different lockup for their own safety, Baird said.