For months, as Lackawanna County officials quietly discussed the possibility of relocating the work-release program from a standalone center downtown to the prison, there seemed to be little urgency to the proposal.
That changed last month when the state decided it would remove its inmates from the county prison, blowing a nearly $1.8 million hole in the tentative 2013 budget crafted by majority Commissioners Jim Wansacz and Corey O'Brien.
Plans to shift work-release to the jail suddenly accelerated.
"Some things we were thinking about we have had to move forward with in an expedited manner," Mr. O'Brien said.
The commissioners on Wednesday formally introduced a $90.7 million budget for next year that contains more than a dozen major spending and revenue adjustments - including the work-release move - to offset the loss of the state revenue at the prison. It holds the planned real estate tax increase steady at the previously announced 4 percent.
The budget is scheduled for final adoption Nov. 28.
The commissioners said they are aiming to relocate work-release and other community corrections programs from the county-owned facility at 614 Spruce St. to the prison on North Washington Avenue by Jan. 1. Work-release has occupied the Spruce Street building since 1980.
The move is projected to save the county $56,000 annually in maintenance, utility and other expenses.
Warden Robert McMillan said the work-release inmates will be housed in a now-vacant dormitory unit that they will share with the 25 prisoners who work at the county recycling center and the four who are assigned to county facilities on Montage Mountain.
The prisoners in the unit will have their own entrance into the prison, he said. They will be segregated from and have no interaction with the general prison population. "This will actually enhance security because you have the inmates who are allowed outside the fence all celled together," Mr. McMillan said.
The move will also allow the county to expand the number of available work-release beds from 43 to 55, which is expected to generate $52,500 in additional revenue annually.
The original $91.7 million budget proposal the commissioners released Oct. 15 anticipated revenue of $1.75 million from the housing of 100 state prisoners at the county jail. However, the state notified the county just four days later that it was pulling all of its inmates from the prison.
Mr. Wansacz said the administration recognizes the cuts proposed as part of its plan to make up the difference will be "very painful" to some of the organizations involved.
"We are going to do what we think is best to put a plan in place going forward ... that will continue to run the government as effectively and efficiently as possible," Mr. Wansacz said.
The Lackawanna County office of the Penn State Extension, for example, will see its county allocation halved - from $240,000 to $120,000.
Terry Schettini, district director for Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties, said he could not predict what impact the cut will have, but the extension will try to mitigate the effect on programs and services "as much as possible."
"Obviously, when you go from a budget of $240,000 to a budget of $120,000, there has to be some dramatic rethinking of what you can get done. One of the things we want to do is make sure whatever we do, we do well," Mr. Schettini said.
Under the budget, the county's real estate tax rate will increase from 55 mills to 57.42 mills. With a mill equal to $1 in tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value, the tax bill on a home assessed at the county average of $13,000 will increase from $715 to $746 annually.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com