McELHATTAN - With a projected deficit of over $2 million countywide for next year, officials continue to look at ways to save money.

One savings option brought up at Wednesday's Prison Board meeting was the elimination of free meals for correctional officers at the Clinton County Correctional Facility.

During his report, Deputy Warden Dave Harkey noted the facility served just over 30,000 meals last month, including about 1,700 to staff, at an average of just under $1 per meal.

Commissioner Adam Coleman suggested the county may want to do away with the free meals for COs, saving about $1,700 a month, or about $20,000 a year.

"We need to cut stuff where we can," Coleman said.

However, Warden Tom Duran strongly recommended keeping the free meals, noting they are not permitted to leave the facility during their shift, whether it is the regular eight hours or overtime.

Further, Duran said, the meals for the COs are the same as what the inmates receive.

"They're not getting anything elaborate," he said. "I've seen jails where it's a whole different menu for staff and those taxpayers in that area are paying for a lot. If I was the warden, they wouldn't be eating as well as they're eating, trust me.

"We are very frugal about it," he continued. "If somebody's going to come in here for eight hours, a meal isn't (that big of a deal.)"

Duran said he understands the county's financial predicament, but said eliminating that meal, which amounts to about $20 per officer per month, could severely hurt morale.

Harkey said the county could save money by buying products in bulk, especially with the new storage facility next to the prison nearing completion.

"That's going to be a great opportunity for the county," he said.

One example he offered was a recent purchase of about 220 cases of Kosher meals the county is required to offer certain federal inmates for $12.50 a case, much lower than the normal price of $41 a case, saving the county $6,384.

Further, Harkey said, the prison can save by buying items like kitchen gloves and hair nets by the pallet, saving about $1,600 on a normal purchase of $3,500.

"When I talk about the opportunity buys, you have to have the room to be able to take them and that's the kind of money we can save," he said.

The facility's population on Wednesday was 286, of which 193 were from out of county. However, Duran said that count was down from last month's average of 308 inmates - 223 from outside the county - mostly due to 29 federal inmates being taken out on Tuesday.

"It's been a tough year. It's been hard to keep the flow up," he said.

Keeping state inmates in the facility may be more difficult in the future as Duran reported the state Department of Corrections may start to ship state inmates to other states - like Michigan, Oklahoma, Nevada and New York - in the next couple of years.

"There's a lot going on. You just have to stay on top of it," he said.

Since the addition was built several years ago, the goal of county officials has been to have the prison be a budget-neutral entity by housing out-of-county inmates for a charge, and that has been the case for the last few years.

However, given the cutback in federal inmates, the prison is now looking at a $300,000 shortfall next year.

The federal government continues to be the county's biggest customer, with Homeland Security charged $177,931 for September. The state Department of Corrections was charged $140,639, while other entities, like the U.S. Marshal's Service; Federal Bureau of Prisons; and Cameron, Lycoming, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties also using the prison for housing. The total billed to outside agencies amounted to just under $375,000.