Cole County Sheriff Greg White and Callaway County Western District Commissioner Doc Kritzer testified Tuesday afternoon in favor of two proposed laws seeking to improve sheriffs' operations.
Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, sponsors the two bills to change the way the state reimburses county governments for holding prisoners facing state charges and would allow sheriffs and deputies to assist other counties around the state immediately, without requiring an existing mutual aid agreement.
Under current law, county governments pay for housing and feeding inmates who are charged with crimes but cannot make the bail amount to leave the jail while their cases are pending. Eventually, the state will reimburse some of those costs - but only for jail inmates who actually go to prison.
The county still must pay the whole cost for anyone who is convicted of a crime but released to probation - or who is cleared of the charges.
White told the Senate's Judiciary Committee that Cole County alone lost "roughly, plus or minus $600,000" last year in expenses the state didn't pay. He noted the calculation involves only inmates being held on state felony charges.
"Municipal prisoners don't count in this," he said, nor do those charged with misdemeanors.
"It's a big issue to us and it really equates to a service reduction - what we can do, what we'd like to do and what we can't do," White said.
Kritzer, who also is a member of the Missouri Association of Counties' executive board, told the committee it "is important that everyone recognize that the people we house in the county jail broke a state law - they didn't break a county law. And we are trying to get nothing more than a reimbursement back from the state, to take their responsibility and recognize that these people are their violators."
Dixon's bill would require the state to pay half the costs, beginning on the date the prosecutor files the state charges.
The bill also requires the state to pay 100 percent of the county's expenses after the offender is convicted of the state charge - even if the sentence doesn't include state prison time.
Dixon's proposal also would require the state to pay 100 percent of the costs of electronic monitoring of such offenders.
Missouri Sheriffs Association Director Mick Covington said sheriffs this year submitted information about one "law day."
With 92 of Missouri's 114 counties responding for just that one day, he said the state reimbursed those counties $600,000. The counties were responsible for more than $1 million.
"Last year, we received about $300,000 in reimbursements at the county level - and we spent about $1.3 million to operate our jail," Kritzer told the committee. "So, we got about one-fourth of our money back."
Stone County Prosecutor Matt Silby, reminded the senators: "The counties bear the costs of the prosecution itself - the county is already bearing a substantial, if not the complete, burden of prosecuting state laws."
White told the committee Dixon's other proposal on Tuesday's agenda would allow sheriffs to help each other immediately in natural disasters and other emergencies - with the "home" county continuing to be responsible for salaries, benefits, liabilities, etc.
"Some of our jurisdictions are very small and don't have those immediately available resources" like larger counties do, he said.
Kritzer said Callaway County is "fortunate to have Boone County and Cole County next to us," but oftentimes in a disaster, "you can't always rely on your neighbor, especially when they're small counties."
He said the proposal is similar to the existing fire service mutual aid agreements.
The committee took no action on either bill.