Court earmarks contingency for jail diversion contracts, approves pilot funding

Commissioners reserved contingency funding in the change memo for behavioral‑health and jail‑diversion work that the public health department requested. Budget director Tanya Gaethon told the court the change memo adds $344,837 in contingencies for jail diversion agreements and identifies a pilot jail‑diversion center allocation of $638,370; those amounts will be allocated to the appropriate offices after commissioners approve the underlying contracts.

Commissioner Rodriguez and others noted the county has been working with the city and University Health on a pilot program and expects external partners to contribute. Commissioners also approved a $125,000 contingency for a jail overtime study intended to identify practices to reduce overtime spending.

Gaethon said these contingency funds are pending formal contract approval, at which time staff will transfer the money from contingencies into department budgets.