The Yazoo County Board of Supervisors ordered an audit be conducted at the Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility in light of the upcoming state accreditation office’s report.
County leaders wish to have a detailed financial report of the jail’s affairs before submitting their own letter to the state accreditation department, which is required every three years.
In 2014, the correctional facility began to be included with the county’s annual audit.
“That is true for everything that goes through my office,” said Donna Kraft, county administrator. “But my concern is there are things that are handled out there, such as inmate welfare, that are not included in this audit.”
Kraft wanted to bring that to the supervisors’ attention during its open meeting last Friday. She said she would be more comfortable signing any necessary paperwork with complete financial statements.
The county board approved a one-time audit would make everyone feel at ease.
The facility’s financial state has been an area of concern for the county board for quite some time. With the jail’s over budget, county leaders expressed frustration with Warden Gary Edwards’ recent request for a nurse to be given a pay raise.
“I told (Edwards) to tell her absolutely not from me,” said Supervisor Cobie Collins. “And I told him I would bring it up to this board to decide because we have already made our budget. They were already over from last year.”
Collins added that the nurse has only been employed with the facility for about six months.
“It might be kinfolk,” Supervisor Willie Wright replied. “But this has got to stop somewhere.”
Supervisor Van Foster said it seems as if Edwards requests a pay raise for jail employees almost every month.
“It is going to take 13 months…for them to catch up from what they were over last year,” Collins said.
Supervisor Jayne Dew said the county board has tried to assist the facility with balancing their budget for several months.
“It cannot continue financially,” she said. “We have already tried to get them to understand that they are at a breaking point over there. We have tried every way to show them how they can save money. Now they keep coming in and asking for raises for people. It contradicts what we are trying to tell them.”
Foster said Edwards simply needs to start telling employees “no” when it comes to salary increases.
Collins said he also has concerns over the facility’s kitchen expenditures.
“We started out with 248 inmates in September that we opened up,” Collins said. “(Former Commission Chris) Epps got us up to 300 inmates. Now we are back down to 240. They are spending the same amount of money in the kitchen for groceries as they were paying for the 300. Who are you feeding now?”
“Sixty people somewhere,” Foster added.
Dew said the county received more money in the past with jail employees purchasing their own meals. “You can’t tell me all of a sudden in the last two years that every employee out there is all of a sudden bringing their lunch,” she said.
Dew also said the county inmate population within the facility has also decreased over the years. Foster said more inmates are also being taken to the Madison County jail.
“And that is another bill,” Dew said. “We are paying $10,000 a month to keep them over there.”
“I just don’t know how you justify raising taxes because you can’t get a group of people to understand that you have got to run as efficiently as you can,” she continued. “It’s like talking to a wall for some reason because every month it’s somebody needs a pay increase. We are trying to play catch up here and your expenses are the same…I don’t understand it.”
