QuickTake:

The move to tap into reserves temporarily buys Lane County time to come up with a permanent fix for shortfalls in its corrections budget. County officials say state funding isn’t enough to cover costs.

Lane County commissioners approved a plan Wednesday, Oct. 14, to dip into county reserves and use nearly $5 million to partially plug a hole in the county’s community corrections services budget.

County commissioners said it comes in response to state revenues that fail to keep pace with costs and the county’s workload. Earlier this year, county officials projected a budget gap of more than $8 million to fully fund community corrections, which serves thousands of people in the county every year, providing parole supervision, shelter and behavioral health services.

The funding will help the county avoid deeper cuts and keep intact for now services that include parole officers and a sheriff’s work crew. But officials warned that they need a long-term solution after the current two-year budget cycle ends in 2027.

County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky made the recommendation to commissioners after gathering input from community corrections organizations.

“The question that I posed to that group was what is necessary given the funding cuts that are on the table,” he said.

The state allocated about $28 million for Lane County community corrections in its 2025-2027 budget. But the county estimates a shortfall of $8.1 million to continue existing services.

This means that the nearly $5 million will cover many, but not all, of the cuts that the county was considering.

The biggest share of the additional funding — about $3.7 million — will go to the county’s Community Justice and Rehabilitation Services, which provides adult parole and probation. The funding will cover much of the nearly $5.2 million reduction the division faced and allow the county to keep 13 of 17 staff positions that faced cuts.

Without the additional funding, the county would have lost 14 parole officers, a supervisor and two support staffers. The county is also hoping to access county opioid settlement funding to retain another parole officer.

The county has 35 parole officers in all, who supervise about 2,300 clients, primarily people convicted of felonies.

The county also can continue to operate a mental health unit, which helps clients with behavioral health needs.

Sponsors Inc., a nonprofit that contracts with Lane County to provide services, will get $695,531 to help stave off a $904,217 reduction. The nonprofit partner provides a variety of services, including transitional housing for men and women, a mentorship program, crisis funding to help people with needs like medication, glasses, rental assistance and work clothes. The funding will help the organization continue to provide transitional housing for clients.

In the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, the county’s reserve funding will provide about $533,000 — enough to cover the cost of a sheriff’s work crew — a program that allows offenders to work on projects like litter control or parks maintenance as an alternative to incarceration. That funding allows the sheriff’s office to keep a deputy sheriff position associated with the work crew.

Commissioners said the cuts are painful and supported the plan, but only to get time.

“This is the right move at this point, to plug a hole in a sinking ship,” Commission Vice Chair Ryan Ceniga said.

They said the county’s services, already with limited resources, are stretched but continue to do good work.

“We’re so far below what we should be” in terms of state funding, said Commissioner Laurie Trieger, adding that she’s “supportive of this solution to buy us time.”

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.