From: Tom Kriegl
Date: August 13, 2004

Part one in a series of three articles written by Tom Kriegl, member of the Finance Committee of the Sauk County Board to supply additional facts to the front page article in the August 13, 2004 edition of the Baraboo News Republic, titled "The Jail is Making Money Now".

The front page article in the August 13, 2004 edition of the Baraboo News Republic, titled "The Jail is Making Money Now" provides an incomplete picture of the finances of the Sauk County jail. To make the picture more complete, let’s look at additional facts.

The increased net costs associated with the new jail explain much of the increase in the dollars of county property tax levy from 2000 to 2004. Jails and prisons have caused similar increases in the state budget and in the budgets of many other counties.

In 2004, about $7.3 million of Sauk County property and/or sales taxes will be spent for the gross cost of Sauk County jail functions (includes debt service and heating and cooling—two items that are not included in the Sheriff’s Department budget in 2004). In 2000, about $1.9 million of Sauk County property taxes were spent for the gross cost of Sauk County jail functions including renting jail space from other counties. If you describe this change from 2000 to 2004 as "The Jail is Making Money Now", you need to read the rest of my article in which I’ll discuss net costs and other items.

All of the facts and numbers I’m using are public information. I can show how all of them were collected and/or calculated. Many of the numbers are slightly rounded.

I am in my second term on the Finance Committee of the Sauk County Board. The new Sauk County Law Enforcement Center (jail) construction was well under way (began late in 2001 and finished about mid 2003) by the time I was first elected to the County Board. As a relatively new board member, I was very frustrated to be expected to vote on jail staffing with information that was far less complete than it should have been. I gathered information from the Sheriff’s Dept, Accounting Dept, county budget books, consultants’ reports and other places. I designed two computer spreadsheets to calculate the daily cost per cell and inmate along with total costs, fixed costs, and variable costs for about any set of circumstances facing the jail.

In accounting, profit is calculated by subtracting expenses or cost from income or revenue. The term "making money" used in the August 13, 2004 article is rather non-specific. In my experience, when people use the terminology "making money" they are thinking more in terms of profit than in terms of income alone.

Now lets talk about net costs (gross costs minus non-tax revenue, most of which is rent) of jail functions in 2000 and 2004.

The August 13, 2004 article states that $459, 000 of rent was paid by out of county inmates through July 2004. On the surface, this rent should reduce the gross cost of about $7.3 million to a net cost of $6, 841, 000. The article indicated that other counties were paying $52 per inmate per day to rent Sauk County jail space. Ten dollars of that $52 per inmate per day rent is immediately used up for food, laundry etc for the renting inmate. I haven’t verified whether the $459, 000 rent collected was based on the gross rent ($52) or net rent ($42). If it is based on gross rent, then the $459, 000 shrinks to about $370, 000 of net rent. Either number is much smaller than the $7.3 million gross cost in the 2004 budget.

With five months of 2004 left, Sauk County could collect another $3-400, 000 of jail rent revenue, reducing the gross cost of the jail to a net cost of about $6.5 million in 2004.

Sauk County inmates in the Huber part of the jail also pay $15 per day (this was also true in 2000). At least some of the Huber inmates are not able to make that payment. But let’s assume that 79 Huber inmates (the count on June 15, 2004) pay $15/day for 365 days. This would generate another $432, 525 of revenue to reduce the 2004 net cost to about $6.06 million. Revenue from the Huber unit would be similar in 2000, reducing the gross cost that year to a net cost of about $1.47 million.

It is helpful to know that most fines imposed by the Sheriffs Department are collected by the Clerk of Court and appears as revenue to the "clerk" in the county budget. A bit less than a million dollars a year is collected from this source.

It is unrealistic to expect to make a profit from operating a jail, or to operate a jail without using some tax dollars. But few people would call an increase from $1.47 million to $6.06 million in net cost to the county property tax levy "making money". We should be careful about how much we spend to own and operate jails and prisons.

Part Two in a series of three articles written by Tom Kriegl, member of the Finance Committee of the Sauk County Board to supply additional facts to the front page article in the August 13, 2004 edition of the Baraboo News Republic, titled "The Jail is Making Money Now".

Part one explained that the net cost of Sauk County jail functions more than tripled from 2000 to 2004.

The August 13th article says, "The Sauk County Jail is bringing in money by housing inmates, while before the county was losing money because inmates had to be sent to other counties." Again compare this statement to more facts, which show that the daily total cost per inmate of owning and operating "the jail" is higher than the rent paid per day.

The combined average daily head count of Sauk County inmates in the Huber Center (work release unit) and maximum security unit was 147 in April 2004, 137 in May 2004, and 153 in June 2004, compared to a combined maximum capacity of 369. The 2004 three month average head count of 146 is about 24 inmates less than detained by Sauk County in Nov. 2002 and about four less than detained in Dec. 2002. These head counts do not include the 40-60 inmates housed from other counties. While it defeats the Huber concept to house Huber inmates far from home, lets pretend for a moment that Sauk County doesn’t have any jail, making it necessary to rent space for all (assume 150) Sauk County inmates for an entire year at a cost of $59 per inmate day ($59 equals rent of $52 plus $6 transportation cost and $1 medical cost per inmate rental day). The cost would be about $3.23 million for 2004 compared to the $7.3 million gross cost and $6.5 to $6.06 million net cost that Sauk County will pay in 2004 and for many following years. Knowing this, we don’t even need my complex spreadsheets to see that the gross cost per Sauk County inmate day paid by Sauk County in 2004 will be over $127 per day. After accounting for the expected revenue from renting jail space to other counties in 2004 (leading to a net annual cost of $6.06 million) the net cost per Sauk County inmate day reduces to over $110. This is a more correct way to look at the impact on the Sauk County budget than to divide the annual net cost by the combined Sauk County and out-of county inmates (assume an average of 200 inmates per day).

Having established this point, I hasten to say that for the two parts of the jail that are already fully staffed but about half full with Sauk County inmates, renting excess space is a good idea because for each inmate day of rent, we gain $52 of revenue and about $10 of cost—gaining $42 per inmate day to defray other existing costs.

The more of those spaces we rent, the more the net cost (and tax burden) can be reduced. Of course careful readers have already figured out that the best we can do in 2004 is to reduce the net cost to about $6 million unless we can enact preventative and rehabilitative programs that reduce the number of inmate days used by Sauk County inmates and replace them with inmates from other counties.

Even if all spaces were rented to other counties at market rental rates, total costs would exceed total rental income.

The fact that renting excess space in the already staffed parts of the jail is a good idea, doesn’t automatically mean that the current jail design, configuration or size was a good idea.


Part Three in a series of three articles written by Tom Kriegl, member of the Finance Committee of the Sauk County Board to supply additional facts to the front page article in the August 13, 2004 edition of the Baraboo News Republic, titled "The Jail is Making Money Now".

The August 13, 2004 article mentions another unit of the jail that is not open. Every proposal made so far to open the empty unit would raise property taxes. My spreadsheets show that the added cost of opening the final jail unit would exceed the added rental revenue it could earn at any reasonable rate of capacity at the rental rates that other counties are willing to pay. Under the proposals I’ve seen for opening the empty unit, The gross cost of Sauk County jail functions would increase from the $7.3 million budgeted in 2004, to near$9 million. The net cost would increase from about $6.06 million in 2004 to some where between $7 and 8 million. This is not what I call "making money". If we are going to increase the county tax levy by one or two million, I can think of far better ways to use the increase.

Hiring new staff to open the empty unit is quite a different matter compared to adding renting inmates to fill a fully staffed unit. New staff was hired and paid to be trained for several weeks before the first inmate was placed in the new maximum security unit. This increases the first year costs. The same would likely be true for the unit that is still empty.

People need to understand that the employee compensation needed to operate any of the jail units is about 60% of all costs. It takes less than six years of employee compensation added up for a face value cost that exceeds the cost of building the unit. It is extremely hard to justify opening the empty unit under circumstances in which the added costs exceed the added revenue.

It is clear that, at least for society, crime doesn’t pay. It also is clear that locking violators up and throwing away the key is very expensive. In fact this approach followed more in Wisconsin than in Minnesota helps explain why;


There is no discernable difference in the level of public safety and total population between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Minnesota is spending far less for about the same results in corrections. Wisconsin now spends about two times as much money on corrections as Minnesota, (about one-half billion dollars more a year now).

Wisconsin now spends four times as much money on corrections as Wisconsin spent in 1990.

Much of this problem was created by legislation supported by Governor Thompson and state legislators.

The August 13, 2004 article also discusses an increased emphasis on rehabilitation of inmates in the new jail. I do applaud an increased emphasis on rehabilitation, counseling, etc. in an effort to reduce the number of repeat offenders, especially in the juvenile category. It is a direction we need to pursue. There are a number of places, even in the state of Wisconsin that have implemented this approach to achieve far more favorable results at less cost than achieved via the automatic locking them up and throwing away the key method and this is being achieved in places with old and limited facilities. In fact, the Sauk County Board heard a presentation at the August Board meeting from the Justice System Administrator in Monroe County describing a successful program in Wisconsin that has achieved such results. One place in which Monroe County has substantially reduced costs is in their approach to dealing with juvenile delinquents.

In most years, Sauk County has spent more money renting "jail space" for juveniles than for adults. Even with the new jail, Sauk County rents space (mainly in La Crosse) for juvenile offenders. Even though the daily jail rental rate for juvenile offenders is about $167 (about three times the adult rate) plus transportation, many agree that it would likely cost Sauk County taxpayers more to own and operate a juvenile detention unit here. One of the facts that makes this disturbing is that we can educate about 10 juveniles for the cost of jailing one juvenile for a year. At the $59 per adult inmate day rental rate, we can educate about 3-4 juveniles for a year.

What we have to ask is, are we more interested in punishing people after they have violated a law (and yes I know that not all crime can be prevented and not all violators can be changed) or are we more interested in preventing crime, redirecting offenders and achieving as much or more public safety for fewer tax dollars?

What we need now are more policy makers and justice system professionals at the local, state and federal level who have the vision to see the possibilities and the courage to implement them.

THE FOLLOWING IS MY OPINION:

Hello,
My name is David N. Waldrop. Perhaps you know me or have seen me in recent news stories. I was told to not talk to the press but I feel it may be the only way I am herd. I was arrested a few months ago for "Ebay Theft." In my local paper they made it seem as if this IS what happened, not this is what he is accused of. The Detective who arrested me, (Dave Edwards) The D.A. office (Chad Hendee) as well as my local paper has twisted this story and made it as juicy as possible for their own gain and entertainment. So, here I am not being "physically forced" but in a round about way giving me no other choice but to plead guilty for a crime that was really just a misunderstanding. I am 29 years old this year and as of next week I will have 4 felonies on my record I have to live with for the rest of my life, some probation and some jail time and over $12, 000 "restitution."(some goes to the county of course) I am going to just give a brief summary of what is really going on and why I am feeling bullied but not legally "forced" into signing an agreement, if you have questions or want more details, just ask I will be happy to answer your inquiries. My trial date is set for June 13, 2009. I’m sure I will have to enter my plea agreement before that probably next week sometime.

Back in October of last year, I decided to sell 2 guitars I came in possession of some time ago. I was not sure of their actual worth so I asked someone. I was told they were probably 61 Gibson es 355's. (They turned out not to be) With wishful thinking backing me up, I admit I ran with the idea no questions asked. My digital camera was no more so I Googled for a decent picture of one and used it for the ad as MANY MANY people do on Ebay. I did state right in the ad "I don't know anything about guitars. I’m going on what a buddy of mine said" I also never accept returns on my items I list. This being 2 items I was unfamiliar with, I also attached a 7 day return option for the buyers in the event they were unhappy or worse they weren't as I was told. I listed them ( 2 separate guitars, 2 separate ads, but it was the same guitar so it was the same ads) Almost immediately, two separate gentleman wanted to buy the guitars but wanted to conduct the sale in person outside of Ebay. This is dangerous and against Ebay policy and results in your seller account being closed on Ebay. I refused and told them we would have to use Paypal and do it by the rules. They refused to follow through the rules, so I refused to sell to them. This was later considered 2 attempted Felony thefts. (Punishable 7 years in prison)

So I than resubmitted the ads to give it another shot. I than had 2 more men who purchased them properly. I sent out both guitars. One of the men I never herd from again. The other man is how this all started.

Not even 72 hours after the sale he filed a claim he had not received the guitar. However I have proof it was in the mail. I did have contact with him I notified him that it was mailed; I even personally went to the post office who told me it takes 7 to 9 days to get there the way it was shipped. I don't know what he was expecting but he lives all the way in Pennsylvania!

The day arrived; he had received the guitar as promised. I know because my fiancé my 5 year old little boy and I came home to three 4 minute messages from him. Stating “You better be looking over your shoulder I am coming to get you. Be scared" "I'm sure you have family and a job, this is going to affect everything you do big boy" ETC. Demanding I send him the money back without my item in hand. So we did what any normal couple would do when a lunatic from the internet is calling your home, we called the local police and contacted Paypal and Ebay.

The Police listened to the messages and said "do not contact him” and to let Paypal and Ebay handle it and they would contact him and tell him to not have direct contact with us. He didn't listen. I was handling the situation through the proper way and following the Ebay/Paypal rules. The end result was Payapl found in favor of me and said "if he returns the merchandise please provide him with a refund as according to your return policy if any" Well, I waited for him to return it long after my 7 day policy was up, I knew he had received the same notice I did. I wasn't about to hold this crazy mans hand and show him how to return an item, that was his responsibility not mine.

Well, over 2 months go by. No guitar showed up, so no refund for him. After all the other man received his guitar and had no complaints so this guy from Pennsylvania must have been really nuts threatening my family and myself instead of just doing a return like a mature adult.

Then one morning (over 4 months later) I get a knock at the door, it was Detective Dave Edwards who demanded I come speak with him. I told him I needed to open our store. He said, "You have 15 minutes to meet me at the Baraboo Police Department" So I did. He took me into a little room and told me what the situation concerned. He also told me it was my right to have a lawyer which was followed by, "But I wouldn't suggest it" After talking about it for several minutes I was confused. I just agreed and signed the waiver to a lawyer because I honestly believed I would explain and he would understand the situation. I told him it was a civil matter and I would explain everything to him just as I did here. He asked me about the man in Pennsylvania, so I explained it to him. Than he asked “If there was another guitar?” I responded, "Yea why?" He said that the man I never herd from again (who purchased the other guitar) was included in his "investigation" As far as I knew he was a happy customer. He than let me know that the reason I never herd from that man again was because the detective called him and told him not to contact me before he even received the guitar!! I asked the detective why he would do that. I told him if he wasn't happy he had a right to a refund and that because of that he prevented him from receiving one. (I later found out from the police report that when Paypal told the man in Pennsylvania to send it back in order to receive his refund the detective told him not to, because than I would be in possession of the "evidence" and he couldn't charge me!) Appears to me like I was being setup.

He than arrested me for 2 counts of Felony Theft. I was shocked I just kept telling him he has no right what so ever to arrest me. He was also harassing my fiancé and trying to drag her into it too. He was telling me on the way to get booked how he was going to talk to her and threatening to lock her up too! When I finally went to my bond hearing 2 days later, (Someone forgot paperwork, which I was told 10 minutes before my hearing after the first 24 hours I was in jail. So I had to sit an extra day in my 6X9 cell) Anyways, they changed the charges to 2 felony attempted thefts and 2 felony thefts for a grand total of 4 felony's! And a possible conviction over 20 years!!! OVER SOMETHING I WOULD HAVE GLADLY RETURNED AND WAS IN THE PROCESS OF DOING SO, HAD THE DETECTIVE NOT INTERFERRED WITH THIS CIVIL MATTER.

I've never even been arrested for stealing anything. And now at almost 30, owning our own business, having custody of my son, just bought our first home and doing pretty well, I just decided to become a mastermind Felon? I never told these men a fake name or address or phone number or even not talked to them after the fact of receiving their money. That would be pretty dumb as a criminal to give your home address where your child sleeps. And if I thought I "got away with it" don't you think I would have kept going? Why not make 2 or 3 hundred thousand off it and why did I even bother sending them an item at all? I looked all over the internet there are tons of similar cases except for a couple details... they did it hundreds of times, used aliases, and didn't send them anything! I was trying to make good with the man from Pennsylvania’s refund, but the detective told him not to send it back. (There is a copy of that e-mail in the police report) So what was I supposed to do?

So far my case has been flying by unusually lightning fast. No one listens to my side of the story and they don't care.

What do you do when your arrested for some ridiculous charge by a man who works for Sauk county than are being prosecuted by another man who works for Sauk county and than not have a $10, 000 cash retainer to hire a private lawyer but make to much for a public defender and they give you a "court appointed attorney" who was hired by who? Sauk County.

My first lawyer they gave me didn't listen to a word I said; I never even got the chance to see the inside of his office! He would literally come in our store and yell and cuss at me and tell me to take a deal without even listening to my side. It almost seemed as if he worked for the D.A. instead of me. At this point my lawyer told me it was a normal thing and to wave my right to a preliminary hearing he also said that I was "pissing off" the D.A. and himself as well. I was also told if I were to go through with a preliminary hearing they would take away the plea agreement they had offered me. So I waived my right. So, I asked for a second lawyer to be appointed to me and they did so as I asked. They assigned me to a lawyer as nice as he is, that when you Google his name and office it says his practice areas are: Car Accidents, Divorce, Family Law, Injury Law and Workers Compensation….. Is it just me or are we missing an important attribute? Like Criminal Law or Business Law? Thank you for appointing me fair representation Sauk County.

So this is where I stand now. I have 3 choices.

Option 1: Sign a plea agreement for $12, 000 to be paid in the next 90 days and I get 2 petty misdemeanors ( I don't have the money so its not even an option for us)


Option 2: is sign a plea for 30 days jail 18 months probation and no criminal activities for 5 years or will I be sentenced. Still pay the $12, 000 I just have a longer time frame to do it, and I take 4 FELONY's on my record that will haunt my life forever!

Or option 3: takes a chance in court. I want to take that option but with the way they have been twisting this case in their favor, even if it’s just a 1% chance I was found guilty. There would be a possibility of me sitting in a Jail cell for over 20 YEARS!!! Losing my fiancé, my son, my family. And all for what exactly?????

Since this has happened I have been all over the front page of our paper and on news channels and the internet a few times. The story is one sided, we lost 75% of our business because everyone looked at us as criminals. (it’s a small town and word travels fast here) and we recently had to shut it down. The people who once waved and smiled have outcast us. It's embarrassing to show up at your son's school and everyone is whispering about you. I feel bad for my son and my fiancé as well. We have lost everything we have worked for because of this. And they originally told the man from Pennsylvania it was a civil matter until he wrote a long letter and faxed it to our DA. Most of it was just personal information on me (or what he thought was me, he had me confused with a different David Waldrop that was divorced and on probation among other things, not that any of that information had to do with this situation anyways) And he made sure to throw into his letter "you can't say I didn't try to get help from Sauk County on this" All of the sudden it wasn't Civil anymore? Strange.

Just about everything I have told you is in the 400 page police report. There are Copies of the emails between the detective and the customers my emails Paypal’s investigation results etc. This is one of the most unjust things I have ever seen or experienced. Well, there you have it. It's my side of the story and it can all be found right in the police report they wrote.

We have no more money, no more store, and no more fight left in us. We have been embarrassed, shocked and outraged; But like I said who do you complain to when this happens?

I am going to sign the plea for guilty to 4 felony’s probation and restitution that will follow me forever until I am buried. I refuse to chance losing my son, fiancé, or my family trying to defend myself for something I should have never been arrested for in the first place. Can you imagine sitting in a jail cell for 10 to 20 years away from your life and people who know and love you, thinking to yourself, “I should have taking the agreement” My life has been reset, against my will. I have to start all over from nothing and it will be a little harder this time with this following me. I am a good father a good boyfriend, a good neighbor. But now, because one man cried wolf and a few others helped him, those things mean nothing. It is sad when you are forced to do something against your will and there is no one to help you. It is unfair and unjust that my life is going to be punished this badly over this, and if I just had $12, 000 to give Sauk County they would just slap me on the hand and send me on my way. (Not that I even deserve that) I hope you all understand a little better the story of the "Ebay guitar guy in Baraboo" Thank you for giving me this opportunity to tell my story and thank you for listening. It is safe to say that when this is over, I will be transferring my probation and moving as far away from this county as I can.

Written by David Waldrop