COLUMBIANA CO. Officials eye costs of inmate housing

The East Liverpool YMCA is borrowing money to undertake an expansion project.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County commissioners say they hope a county municipal court can make more use of house arrest and save the county money on prisoner housing costs.
Commissioners heard a presentation Wednesday regarding a house-arrest program run by East Liverpool Municipal Court that saved the county $265,253 in 2001.
House-arrest defendants must remain home most of the time and are allowed to leave only under special circumstances such as to go to work. Their movements are monitored by an electronic bracelet.
Running the East Liverpool program cost $28,543 in 2001 to monitor 269 clients.
Comparison cost: It would have cost the county $293,797 to house those same prisoners at the county jail for the duration of their sentence, explained Julie Tice, East Liverpool municipal court chief probation officer.
Faced with a tight budget, commissioners are trying to cut costs, including those for prisoner housing. It costs the county about $2 million annually to house prisoners.
Judge Robert Roberts of county municipal court said he already makes limited use of house arrest and is willing to consider expanding the program.
He noted that he employs other jail alternatives such as community service. In 2001, he handed out sentences totaling nearly 15,000 hours of community service, he said.
Also on agenda: In other business, commissioners approved issuing tax-exempt bonds that will enable the East Liverpool YMCA to borrow up to $7.5 million for an expansion project.
The county bears no debt obligation as a result of the bond issue.
The debt will be paid back by the YMCA with money secured through fund raising, explained Rob O'Hara, executive director for the East Liverpool YMCA.
Plans include constructing a new, 22,000-square-foot YMCA on Fourth Street on property being donated by Kent State University, which has a regional campus in East Liverpool.
The structure's features will include a swimming pool, fitness center and child-care area.
The YMCA also plans to renovate and add onto a facility it has along state Route 170 in Calcutta.
The 30,000-square-foot addition will include a gymnasium, a climbing wall, a competitive swimming pool and a therapy pool.
East Liverpool City Hospital is contributing $1.5 million to the construction cost of the project.
The hospital will use the Calcutta facility to conduct physical therapy and rehabilitation activities, O'Hara said.
Work on the downtown and Calcutta YMCA projects is expected to begin this spring and be finished by January.
leigh@vindy.com