Joe Haynes

May 3, 2005

He had heard that money was tight and services in demand. But Joe Haynes said, "I'm not here to raise taxes," when he took his new seat on the Putnam County Commission.

Speaking to a packed meeting at today's Rotary luncheon at Sleepy Hollow, the freshman commissioner blamed much of the fiscal squeeze on mandated costs of the regional jail operation.

"The cost to the county is $48.50 per day per prisoner, whether the arrest is made by the state police, the county sheriff, or municipal police," said Haynes. "Jail costs in 1999 were $453,000; the estimate for the current year is $1,200,000."

Court decisions and mandatory legislation have sparked the runaway costs, but Putnam is faring better than some other counties. Haynes cited one cituation where a county was unable to meet its payroll due to the prison costs.

A great contributing factor is the number of drug-related arrests, he said.

Rigorous enforcement of laws on controlled substances may be stronger in Putnam, but the long-term effect also may be to discourage the local proliferation of meth labs and cut arrests. "Home confinement is not an answer for a crime which is usually committed in the home," said Haynes.

An area newspaper gave a "smile" kudo "because Putnam had copied the home confinement plan" of another county. The media outlet later apologized. "Fact is," Haynes explained, "[the other county] copied what we were already doing in Putnam."

Haynes listed more than twenty boards and agencies from aging to zoning whose members are apointed by the County Commission. In addition, the Commission sits as a Board of Review and Equalization on property tax assessemnts in the month of February.

The Commission had heard more than 500 appeals in some recent years, but there were only five appeals this year.

"I'd like to take the credit for that," Haynes joked, and Commissioners Steve Anders and Jim Caruthers in the audience shook their heads in good-natured denials.

The formulas for assessment are set at the state level, however, and Putnam has been able to maintain accurate and current evaluations.

Haynes is an active member of the Putnam Rotary, so members were asked to tell what they knew about him as an introduction.

"He is always smiling," said one of the group.

"The first time I met him, he called the guards on me," said Peter Faulkner. "We were making a commercial for the church with John Amos [AEP Power Plant] in the background, and we got on restricted property before we knew it."

Haynes is Community Relations Manager at the Putnam facility.