![County Manager Bill Lee](/images/resized/images/news/2015/06_15may/41_100_100.jpg)
The Bureau of Indian Affairs decision to send prisoners to Yuma, AZ instead of McKinley County Adult Detention Center has left the city and McKinley County in a projected financial bind moving into fiscal year 2016.
McKinley County Finance Director Sara Keeler presented the news to the City Council May 12. She said the total deficit is about $1.3 million.
And the city’s share is 30 percent of the deficit, which equates to more than $3 million.
“This is a disaster,” said Mayor Jackie McKinney.
County Manager Bill Lee said the jail houses an average of 180 to 190 inmates per day and has a capacity to hold 326.
There’s no extra compensation for housing inmates from the area...