The Charleston Gazette
August 11, 2009
By Phil Kabler
Kanawha Commission chief links most crime to drugs and alcohol
Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper told legislators Monday the solution to adequately fund the state’s regional jail system is not complicated – but does require political courage.
“No one wants to admit, if you hold public office, that you raised a tax,” he told a legislative interim committee on regional jails and correctional facilities.
Kanawha County, along with other counties in the state, is seeing more and more of its operating budget go to pay costs for housing prisoners in state regional jails.
Since alcohol or drugs contribute to the incarceration of roughly four of every five inmates, Carper said it makes sense to raise taxes on alcohol, beer and wine to help fund the regional jails.
Revenue from the increased excise taxes on alcohol could go into a fund that currently helps counties offset about 10 percent of their costs for housing inmates in regional jails.
Cabell County Manager Stephen Zoeller told legislators that one of the counties’ primary sources for regional jail funds – court fees for traffic and misdemeanor offenses – has declined in the past couple of years.
Zoeller said when the basic court fee increased to $159.50, it caused a downturn in traffic citations.
“I think the fines are so high, you’re getting push-down,” said Zoeller, who believes more police officers are issuing warnings instead of citations, and more magistrates are dismissing charges to avoid imposing financial hardship on drivers for minor traffic violations.
Over the years, the Legislature has added a variety of charges to the basic court fee, including $10 for the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund, $2 for law enforcement training, $10 for community corrections, and $5 for courthouse maintenance funds.
Currently, Kanawha County spends about $5 million a year or 10 percent of its overall budget, on regional jail fees, while Cabell County spends about $3 million, or 18 percent of its budget.
Zoeller said the two counties account for 20 percent of the total inmate population in the regional jail system.
Unlike some county commissioners, Carper said he fully supports the concept of regional jails.
“The Regional Jail Authority system is one of the best things the state has done for public safety in the last 50 years,” he said.
In this day and age, Carper said having each county operate its own correctional facility is about as practical as having each county operate its own nuclear reactor.
Also during the interim meetings Monday, Thom Stevens, lobbyist for the State Academy of Ophthalmology, and others spoke against proposed legislation to allow optometrists to perform certain eye surgeries and to prescribe and dispense prescription drugs.
Oklahoma is the only state that allows optometrists to perform surgical procedures, Stevens said.
Dr. Judie Charlton, chairwoman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, stressed to the committee the differences in education and training for the two professions.
An optometrist completes an undergraduate degree and a four-year optometry degree, while an ophthalmologist must have an undergraduate degree, graduate from medical school, and complete a four-year residency in ophthalmology.
In order to be board-certified, an ophthalmology resident must participate in a minimum of 535 surgeries, including a minimum of 171 as the primary surgeon. There is no surgical requirement to obtain an optometry degree.