Because a vote on a new three-year jail contract with the Federal government will be voted upon by the County Board on Tuesday I am keeping this article on top until the meeting.

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On Tuesday, the McHenry County Board has before it a three-year contract with the U.S. Marshals Service.

The current contract, which pays $85 a day, runs out next year.

The new proposal will pay $95 a day.

Last July, the Finance Committee was told that the cost was $106 a day.  I wish I could point to something in writing, but the Sheriff’s Department refuses to release any information on the cost of housing prisoners.

The only indication of the real cost to house Federal prisoners/detainees is the study given the County Board a year ago by Joseph Summerill, who got a $50,000 contract to negotiate a new contract–by the end of last July, according to county records.

Based on woefully outdated information (FY 2008-2012), Summerhill said County government was losing $46.18 a day housing Federal inmates.  (Payment of $85 a day, cost of $131.18 per day.)

The agenda says the contract is with the U.S. Marshals.

Just take a look:
But if you are inquisitive as is commenter “Mark McGuire,” and you go behind the agenda item, you’ll find in the proposed agreement that it is for not only the U.S. Marshals Service, but also for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE for short.

This major contract did not go through the Finance & Audit Committee.

Wouldn’t you think something with as large an impact as this contract would go to the money people?

A year ago, Wonder Lake’s John Hammerand asked if the money paid by the Federal government was enough to cover expenses:

• John Hammerand Wonders If the Benefits to County Outweigh the Costs of Housing Federal Inmates

If you want to bone up on this subject, the following articles might be of assistance:

• Multi-Million Dollar Annual Subsidy for Federal Government’s Housing of Illegal Aliens & Others at the McHenry County Jail – Part 1
• Multi-Million Dollar Annual Subsidizing of Fed’s Housing of Illegal Aliens & Others at the McHenry County Jail – Part 2
• Prim Lists Zinke Vulnerabilities, Zinke Tosses Jail Deficit ICE Ball to County Board
• The Jail Report that the Sheriff’s Department Doesn’t Want the Public to Read
• U.S. Marshal Agrees to Up Jail Reimbursement Rate to $95 per Day
• County Board Committee Recommends Imposing Three-Year Contract on New Sheriff

If you are a County Board member, you might want to ask

• why there is no cost-benefit study to let you know if this is a good deal or a real stinker
• how many ICE detainees and other Federal prisoners have been in the jail on an average day during the last year
• why the Sheriff won’t release information that would allow outside analysts to conduct a cost-benefit analyse
• why the Finance Committee has been cut out of the picture

If you are a taxpayer, you might want to ask your County Board members

• why the secrecy?
• why the hurry?
• whether they know if McHenry County will lose money on this deal
• how they will defend voting in favor of the resolution if they don’t know whether the County will lose money on the deal

And, if you want to contact your County Board member, here is the contact information:

• Michele Aavang – 815-648-4210
• Yvonne Barnes – 847-516-2719
• Nick Chirikos – 847-658-3434
• Sue Draffkorn – 815-653-6057
• Diane Evertsen – 815-943-3298
• Joe Gottemoller – 815 382 9940
• John Hammerand – 815-728-0700
• Jim Heisler – 815-459-1971
• Tina Hill – 815-347-4222
• John Jung – 815-338-6201
• Ken Koehler – 815-459-7841
• Donna Kurtz -815-788-0632
• Bob Martens – 815-675-6353
• Mary McCann – 815-568-1061
• Mary McClellan – 815-482-5693
• Anna May Miller – 847-639-5112
• Robert Nowak – 847-516-9637
• Nick Provenzano – 815-355-8540
• Sandy Salgado – 815-271-5293
• Carolyn Schofield – 815-455-9550
• Ersel Schuster – 815-338-2207
• Mike Skala – 847-669-3804
• Mike Walkup – 815-459-7090
• Paula Yensen – 815-404-3918

There’s also a three-year contract to start converting Sheriff’s squad cars to propane. It is opposed by Republican nominee for Sheriff Bill Prim. It was advanced by Undersheriff Andrew Zinke, the losing candidate in the GOP Primary Election.