After more than a year of negotiation, the McHenry County Law and Justice Committee has worked out a deal to house McHenry County juvenile offenders in Kane County.
The committee unanimously approved the proposal Monday, and sent it to the full board for final approval on Nov. 17. Kane County Judge R. Peter Grometer, who oversees the juvenile detention center, also is recommending approval to the Kane County Board.
“I don’t see anything negative about this contract,” said McHenry County Court Services Director Phil Ulmer, who helped negotiate the deal.
McHenry County Presiding Judge Michael Sullivan agreed, saying, “This is the best deal we’re going to make under these circumstances.”
McHenry County, which does not have a juvenile detention center of its own, must pay other counties to jail juveniles accused of committing serious crimes. Ulmer projects a juvenile detention bill this year of about $400,000, up from $72,000 in 1992.
More juvenile crimes, more serious offenses and higher fees charged by other counties to house McHenry County juveniles are the reasons for the soaring detention costs, Ulmer said.
Under the agreement, McHenry County would have guaranteed space for 10 juvenile detainees a day for two years, with a daily charge of $115 per bed. Ulmer said the county averages 10 detainees a day. If the county needs to use more than 10 beds, the cost for those extra beds would be $135 a day. If the county needs fewer than 10 beds on a given day, it would pay only for the beds that are used.
Those costs would include a physical examination required to admit a juvenile, and psychological examinations that may be needed.
McHenry County now has a guarantee of six beds at $97 a day each at a juvenile detention facility in McLean County, about three hours south. The county pays for each of those beds, even when they are not used. It must also pay $20 for each physical examination and $50 for each psychological examination.
If the county needs more than six beds, which it often does, the overflow usually has gone to Kane County at a cost of $150 a bed.
The drive to the Kane County facility in Geneva and back also would take barely one-third as much time as the trip to and from McLean County, saving tens of thousands of dollars in transportation costs and reducing the impact on staffing in the sheriff’s department, Ulmer said.
Kane County’s director of court services, Jim Mueller, said he and Grometer favor the proposal “because it’s a two-year deal that gives us a projected revenue stream.”
“Right now there’s no way to project revenue,” Mueller said. “With this agreement, we know we’ll be averaging about 10 McHenry County kids a day. When you have a budget for a facility that large, it’s a positive to know what revenue will be flowing in.”
The Kane County facility is about two years old. It has 80 beds and was designed to be a regional center that can be doubled in size, Mueller said. Kendall and DeKalb counties also contributed money toward its construction, in exchange for space at discounted rates.
McHenry County Board Chairwoman Dianne Klemm said she favors a regional approach to solving the county’s juvenile detention problems, although some other County Board members have been promoting the construction of a county-owned detention center, possibly financed by an increase in the county sales tax.
“I have always believed we need to look regionally,” Klemm said. “I believe this (agreement) is a good solution.”
