Contract Proposal For JDC Includes Big Cost Increases [AUDIO]

A management contract for the new juvenile detention facility in Casper includes some big cost increases.

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Cornerstone Programs met with Natrona County Commissioners this week and further detailed what's behind substantial cost increases.
The price of running the new facility being built next to the adult jail in Casper will increase by  about $380,000 a year.  The new building is nearly twice the size of the current, outdated space.   Tim O'Daniel, Director of Operations in Casper, says building lay out and required staffing increases are behind the costs.

"The big expense that we're looking at which in the three hundred and some thousand dollars is all in personell expenses.  That's the majority of our costs on the increase. We have to have the concern that if there is an issue that we have the staff to respond to that issue.  If something does occur we've got to insure for the safety,  not only of our staff,  but of the youth."

The total $1,5 million dollar operating cost may be adjusted once details with department of family services are worked out.
Cornerstone Programs operates as a for profit entity and O'Daniel points out that profit sharing, should profit occur, is written into the new contract.

" Cornerstone has actually lost money the last two years on this project and I'm  not sure we're ever gonna get to the point where we're making money,  but one of the things that we have included in the contract is a profit  sharing with Natrona County."

O'Daniel says Commissioners are drawing up a contract that will run for another year starting at the end of June.  ODaniel hopes to be in the new facility by late August or September.