OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Back in June, you may remember the Oklahoma County Jail sounded the alarm, saying they would be broke at the end of July without emergency support with a $5.8 million budget gap. Well, that turned out not to be true, and one trustee demanded an apology for it this week.
“This is absolutely ridiculous that we allowed this to go out. It makes us look like buffoons, idiots,” jail trustee Rev. Derrick Scobey said in a July 14 meeting. “Again, I’m not saying you. All of us.”
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Scobey was less than pleased with what he called a “catastrophic blunder” from the jail. Interim jail CEO Paul Timmons explained that a nearly half-million-dollar monthly budget shortfall and the county’s $33 million allocated to the jail for the 25-’26 fiscal year falling short of their $44 million in expenses would be the cause.
“Staffing is dismal, staff is overworked and exhausted,” Timmons told trustees at the meeting. “The budget has been flat for the last 3 years, despite rising inflation. We’ve lost 15 percent of our purchasing power, equivalent to $6 million.”…