Executive Office of Public Safety and Security

Account Description FY07
GAA
FY08
GAA
8910-0000 County Correctional Programs
For a reserve to fund county correctional programs; provided, that funds appropriated in this item shall be distributed among the sheriffs departments of Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties by the county government finance review board upon prior notification to the house and senate committees on ways and means; provided further, that funds appropriated in this item shall be in addition to and contingent on item 1599-7092; provided further, that funds made available to Plymouth county may be expended for operating and debt service costs associated with state inmates housed in the Plymouth county facility, pursuant to clauses 3 and 4 of the Memorandum of Agreement signed May 14, 1992; provided further, that funds distributed from this item shall be paid to the treasurer of each county who shall place the funds in a separate account within the treasury of each such county; provided further, that the treasurer shall authorize temporary transfers into this account for operation and maintenance of jails and houses of correction in advance of receipt of the amount distributed by the commonwealth under this item; provided further, that upon receipt of the state distribution, the treasurer may transfer out of such account an amount equal to the funds so advanced; provided further, that all funds deposited in such accounts and any interest accruing thereto shall be used solely for the functions of the sheriffs' departments of the various counties including, but not limited to, maintenance and operation of jails and houses of correction, without further appropriation; provided further, that the sheriff's department of each county shall reimburse the county treasurer of each county for personnel-related expenses, with the exception of salaries, attributable to the operations of the sheriff's department of each county heretofore paid by the county including, but not limited to, the cost of employee benefits; provided further, that the spending plans required by this item shall be developed by the county government finance review board, in consultation with the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association; provided further, that in accordance with section 247 of chapter 38 of the acts of 1995, all spending plans shall be detailed by object class and object code in accordance with the expenditure classification requirements promulgated by the comptroller; provided further, that such spending plans shall be accompanied by a delineation of all personnel employed by each county correctional facility including, but not limited to, position, title, classification, rank, grade, salary and full-time or part-time status; provided further, that such spending plans shall be accompanied by a delineation of all vehicles leased, owned or operated by each county sheriff; provided further, that no sheriff shall purchase any new vehicles or major equipment in fiscal year 2008 unless such purchase is made pursuant to a multicounty or regionalized collaborative procurement arrangement or unless such purchase is directly related to significant population increase or is otherwise necessary to address an immediate and unanticipated public safety crisis and is approved by the county government finance review board and the executive office of public safety; provided further, that notwithstanding the other provisions in this item, sheriffs may purchase "marked" prisoner transportation vans, upon notification to the county government finance review board; provided further, that notwithstanding any special law to the contrary, no county treasurer shall retain revenues derived by the sheriffs from commissions on telephone service provided to inmates or detainees; provided further, that the revenues shall be retained by the sheriffs not subject to further appropriation for use in a canteen fund; provided further, that the county government finance review board and the executive office of public safety shall identify and develop county correction expenditures which shall be reduced through shared contracts, regionalized services, bulk purchasing and other centralized procurement savings programs; provided further, that the daily count sheet for county facilities, compiled by the executive office of public safety, shall be filed with the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association not less than monthly; provided further, that all revenues including, but not limited to, revenue received from housing federal prisoners, United States Marshals, canteen revenues, inmate industries and work-crew revenues shall be tracked and reported quarterly to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association; provided further, that on or before August 15, 2007, each county sheriff shall submit a final spending plan for fiscal year 2008 to the county government finance review board and the house and senate committees on ways and means detailing the level of resources deemed necessary for the operation of each county correctional facility and the expenditures which shall be reduced to remain within the appropriation; provided further, that failure by a county sheriff to comply with any provision of this item shall result in a reduction of subsequent quarterly payments to amounts consistent with a rate of expenditure of 95 per cent of the rate of expenditure for fiscal year 2007, as determined by the county government finance review board; provided further, that each sheriff shall submit to the executive office of public safety and the house and senate committees on ways and means copies of such spending plans not later than August 15, 2007; provided further, that $60,000 shall be expended for the operation of the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office Reentry Program; provided further, that on or before September 15, 2007, the county government finance review board shall have approved final fiscal year 2008 county correction budgets; provided further, that the county government finance review board shall provide the executive office of public safety and the house and senate committees on ways and means with copies of such approved budgets not later than October 15, 2007; provided further, that such budgets shall include distribution schedules for the final 2 quarters of fiscal year 2008 and such plans shall be used to make all subsequent quarterly distributions; provided further, that services shall be provided to the extent determined to be possible within the amount appropriated in this item and each sheriff shall make all necessary adjustments to ensure that expenditures do not exceed the appropriation; provided further, that each county shall expend during fiscal year 2008, for the operation of county jails and houses of correction and other statutorily authorized facilities and functions of the office of the sheriff, in addition to the amount distributed from this item, not less than 102.5 per cent of the amount expended in fiscal year 2007 for such purposes from own-source revenues, which shall not be less than 5 per cent of total county revenues including, but not limited to, amounts levied pursuant to sections 30 and 31 of chapter 35 of the General Laws and amounts provided pursuant to sections 11 to 13, inclusive, of chapter 64D of the General Laws; provided further, that in fiscal year 2008, those counties which have not met maintenance of effort obligations in prior fiscal years shall expend not less than the minimum contribution, as defined above from own-source revenues; provided further, that notwithstanding the provisions stated in this item, the maintenance of effort obligations for Suffolk county shall be 4 per cent of the total fiscal year 2008 Suffolk county correction operating budget as approved by the county government finance review board; provided further, that notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the deputy commissioner of local services shall certify on or before May 15, 2008 that all municipalities have appropriated and transferred to their respective county treasuries, not less than 102.5 per cent of the municipality's prior year obligations or minimum contributions as defined above, whichever is greater, for county corrections; provided further, that if a municipality fails to transfer such obligation, the deputy commissioner shall withhold an amount equal to the shortfall in the obligation due to the county from such municipality's fourth quarter local aid "cherry sheet" distribution, authorized from item 0611-5500 of section 2 and from funds made available from the State Lottery Fund distribution in section 3; provided further, that on or before August 1, 2007, the deputy commissioner shall report all such withholdings to the house and senate committees on ways and means; provided further, that in fiscal year 2008, notwithstanding section 20A of chapter 59 of the General Laws, any county except Suffolk and Nantucket may increase its county tax for the fiscal year by an additional amount if the total amount of such additional county tax is approved by two-thirds of the cities and towns in the county, in towns by a majority vote of the town meeting or town council, and in cities by a majority vote of the city council or board of aldermen, with the approval of the mayor or manager; and provided further, that each sheriff funded from this item shall report on a monthly basis to the house and senate committees on ways and means on the average monthly inmate population in the county starting not later than September 30, 2007

144,482,327 191,352,937

Note:  Governor's veto was overridden.  Text in red reflects vetoed language.

Veto Explanation: I am striking language which earmarks funding that is inconsistent with the statutory power of the County Government Finance Review Board and I am reducing the appropriation for this item accordingly.

 
 
HISTORICAL SPENDING CATEGORIES ($000)
SPENDING CATEGORY FY04
Spending
FY05
Spending
FY06
Spending
FY07
Spending
FY08
GAA
Operating Expenses 3,180 3,416 3,948 3,614 3,613
Aid to Cities & Towns 167,800 169,572 180,165 160,011 187,739
TOTAL 170,980 172,988 184,113 163,624 191,353

* FY07 Projected Spending includes the budget plus nearly $1 billion in spending from FY06 supplemental budgets.

 

Pie Chart: Operating Expenses=2%, Aid to Cities & Towns=98%