The Escambia County Commission will discuss today a settlement with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice that will split the shared detention costs.
The Department of Juvenile Justice issued a letter dated November 27, 2013 on the reconciliation of shared detention costs for FY 2012-2013 which was then revised with a final reconciliation spreadsheet on December 3, 2013. Escambia County was due a credit of $1,721,217.83 that DJJ had refused to honor alleging that it had no budgeted funds to apply the credit to future payments owed to the Department of Juvenile Justice for FY 2013-2014.
This resolution may solve the problem. Here is main clause:
That the Board further supports a detention cost share methodology dividing responsibility between the counties and the DJJ as a 50/50 percent share of total shared detention costs and repayment of all amounts due to Escambia County for FY2008-2013. Pending a complete resolution of these matters, Escambia County will forego any remaining claims against the DJJ, State of Florida.
According to Commissioner Grover Robinson, the 50/50 formula will save the county about $750,000 annually.