Okaloosa County BOCC — April 19, 2016 — Letter to Senator Latvala re DJJ

Board of County Commissioners 100 YEARS * ) -‘}91,_ . s Lounty, State of Florida February 2, 2016 Senator Jack Latvala 408 Senate Office Building 404 South Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL. 32399-1100 Re: Okaloosa County et. al. v. Department of Juvenile Justice Dear Senator Latvala: By way of introduction, I am the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners for Okaloosa County, Florida. I am aware that you have introduced legislation (S B. 1322) which would modify the allocation of costs for secure juvenile detention between the State of Florida and non-fiscally constrained counties. Under your proposed legislation, the non-fiscally constrained counties, as a collective group, would pay no more than 50% of the costs for secure juvenile detention. The Board of County Commissioners of Okaloosa County supports your legislation as an effort to arrive at a more equitable allocation of costs than the present system. Okaloosa County has instituted several actions as part of the County’s efforts to recover overpayments made to the Department of Juvenile Justice in past years, through either credits as contemplated by the detention cost sharing statute, or refunds. Please be advised that in the event that the legislation which you have proposed is adopted by the Florida Legislature and becomes law, I would support and staff would recommend that Okaloosa County dismiss all of its pending actions against the Department of Juvenile Justice. This recommendation would be conditioned on the understanding that any efforts by the Department of Juvenile Justice to collect any perceived underpayment by the County for those years prior to fiscal year 2015-2016 would be abandoned and that the new allocation of costs as set forth in your legislation would be utilized going forward. Thank you again for your efforts. Should you require any additional information, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Charles K. Windes, Jr. Chairman ‘ W 302 N. Wilson St e Crestview, FL 32536 ¢ (850) 689-5030 ¢ Fax: 689-5059 W 1250 N. Eglin Pkwy, Suite 100 ¢ Shalimar, FL 32579 e (850) 651-7105 ¢ Fax: 651-7142 1w 148 7 C.C. Senator Don Gaetz . Representative Doug Broxson Representative Matt Gaetz Representative Doug Broxson Representative Brad Drake Senator Greg Evers Florida Association of Counties