Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund 

Thanks to the 2023 Minnesota Legislature, more than a quarter-million dollars has been infused into the Clay County Probation Department’s long-strapped budget.

And in her Tuesday presentation before the Clay County Board of Commissioners, Probation district supervisor Janelle Cheney said her department is excited about the much-needed monies.

“Through the recent Justice Reinvestment Initiative, typically the county has put in 70 percent of costs for gross misdemeanor, misdemeanor and juvenile supervision,” Cheney said. “In the past I’ve come before the board and we’ve kind of budgeting about $110,000 towards community supervision. And this year Clay County is receiving $261,344 based on a fiscal year.”

Cheney said the first payment has already been received this month, and the future payments will come monthly. She also added that she will be producing reports to the state on how the county is utilizing those dollars.

“As you look at the budget proposal for 2024, we’ve increased significantly,” Cheney said. “We’re thankful to the Legislature for looking at the overall (needs) with law enforcement, probation and corrections, it really takes a grand effort.”

Elsewhere in the budget, Cheney relayed that salaries have increased but with varied fluctuations, as some employees transition into other positions. 

There will also be a 100 percent increase to the part-time salaries, Cheney said, but it is a simple reallocation of salaries from the last budget. The dollars remain the same, it was just reclassified.

One budget change comes with employees’ health insurance, showing a 32 percent increase for 2024. Cheney added that retirements, resignations and job transitions contribute to the variances.

“When I look at this (budget hard copy), your revenues for proposed 2024 are up about $147,000,” said Kevin Campbell, Dist. 4 commissioner. “And your expenditures are up about $70,000. So why would we be seeing a 7.89 percent increase? There’s something obviously not right with this document.”

Cheney said she’ll be reaching out to Stephen Larson, Clay County administrator, and Lori Johnson, Clay County auditor-treasurer, to iron out the apparent discrepancy.

Lastly, Cheney remarked on a proposed potential department fusion.

“I know there is a vision to have a justice center, and combine our gross misdemeanor-misdemeanor-juvenile office with our felony office,” she said. “We continue to work on that. We’re looking at space within this courthouse. We hope to land somewhere soon.”