HD60 - Report on Federal Inmate Overhead Recovery Methodology Options


Executive Summary:
The Compensation Board, in implementing the overhead recovery methodology, is acting on behalf of the General Assembly in recovering some of the Commonwealth’s funding which either indirectly or directly supports the housing of federal inmates.

In particular, the lack of local contributions to operate the jail is seen as particularly problematic. For all jails in the Commonwealth, locality-operating costs in FY03 averaged $21 per inmate day. The highest locality cost was $89 per day in Fairfax while four regional jails (Central Virginia, Northern Neck, Piedmont and Rockbridge) and one local jail (Charlotte County) reported no locality operating revenue, meaning that the cost to house local responsible inmates was borne by the Commonwealth and/or federal government.

Staff of the Compensation Board and the Auditor of Public Accounts developed four options to the current recovery method (pp. 2) with recovery ranging from $39,740 to $10,302,000 depending on which option is chosen. In FY03 the current methodology recovered $7,237,000.