Mar. 17—OSKALOOSA — An increase in costs for juvenile detention services is causing the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors to reconsider the county's options.

Mahaska County, which has housed its incarcerated juveniles at the Central Iowa Juvenile Detention Center in Eldora, is now exploring other options due to a price hike that could put a strain on the county's budget. The board met on Tuesday to discuss the issue and made the necessary adjustments to its planned budget at a work session on Thursday.

"When a juvenile gets in trouble, we cannot house that person in the jail," said Mahaska County Attorney Andrew Ritland. "There has to be sight and sound separation because of state regulations and federal guidelines, so we have to take juveniles who are in detention and place them into Central Iowa Detention."

Historically, Mahaska County has paid $115 per day to house juveniles in the detention center. However, in January, the center's rates went up, taking the minimum price to house a juvenile from $115 to $140 per day.

"That is the lowest rate that we would be charged," Ritland said. "It would go up from there ... After the changes in January, a juvenile placed at that facility could be charging the county upwards of $400 a day if they're categorized at the highest possible risk in their matrix. So because of that, it can be extremely expensive to hold certain juveniles at the facility."

The line item reserved for juvenile detention in the county's District Court budget has historically been $40,000, a number that will be insufficient moving forward, especially if the county is forced to send high-risk juveniles to the facility.

The good news is that not every juvenile that commits a criminal act is sent to a detention facility. Ritland told the board that juvenile court officers only recommend detention if there is a "real, legitimate safety concern or behavior."

The other good news is that the county has another option.

South Iowa Detention Center, located in Henry County, offers detention services for $160 per day, with no possible extra charges, unlike Central Iowa Juvenile Detention Center. South Iowa Detention Center's board is meeting next week to request a raise in that rate of $25 per day, meaning the fee would land at $185 per day.

These options leave Mahaska County with decisions that will most likely need to be made on a case-by-case basis. For a routine detention, Central Iowa is the more economical option. For a high-risk situation, South Iowa makes more sense.

One factor in the decision making process is that Central Iowa doesn't classify juveniles for risk-level until they're on sight, meaning that Mahaska County could potentially send a juvenile to the center expecting to pay $140 per day and end up being charged $400 per day. The county would have the ability to transfer the individual to South Iowa Detention Center, but the cost to do so would be approximately $155, according to Chuck Webb, Mahaska County Board of Supervisors.

To help with these increased expenditures, the board planned at their budget work session on Thursday to add $60,000 to its existing $40,000 allotted to juvenile detention services, for a grand total of $100,000.

The county will move forward in determining which detention facility to use on a case-by-case basis.

In other news:

The Iowa Department of Transportation will present information about the "economic impact of aviation," as it pertains to the possibility of a local airport, to the board of supervisors and interested members of the public at their regular meeting Monday, April 3.

"The board of supervisors has agreed to participate in this discussion for the benefit of the public," said Mark Groenendyk, chair of the board.

Channing Rucks can be reached at crucks@oskyherald.com.