_{Thumbnail image courtesy of the Del Norte County Probation Department}

Nearly a month into a countywide hiring freeze, Del Norte’s probation chief described a catch-22 that links staffing in his department to the revenue it receives.

With a vacancy rate of about 38% overall, Lonnie Reyman said his department can only bill its funding sources for the time his staff have worked, which helps offset costs. If a position is empty, he said, there’s no one to do the work. 

Still, appearing before the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors at a time when all departments are asked to make cuts, Reyman said Del Norte County Probation has eliminated two positions and un-funded a third.The probation chief is also holding off on filling his department’s remaining vacancies, though he said the department is still running continuous recruitments.

“We’ll have a handful starting in October and a handful starting in December,” he said Wednesday. “That lowers our payroll, our salaries and benefits, in order to help us reduce the budget for this year.”
At the first of two 2026-27 budget workshops, Reyman and his staff presented plans for the Probation and Reentry units that he said were reduced by $400,873 from his initial budget request.

Overall, both units were projected to have expenditures of $7.5 million with offsetting revenue coming in at about $4.36 million. Reyman’s budget projected a total net cost to Del Norte County of about $3.126 million.

Vacancies were one of three big things the chief identified as a major influence to his budget with state influences and “what they’re doing with their funding as well” as being another. 

A third major influence is his department’s juvenile detentions, Reyman said. The counties Del Norte contracts with to house those youth are increasing their rates and the average daily population is elevated, he said.

Noting that Reyman’s budget called for $360,000 for those custody agreements with Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Shasta and El Dorado counties — an increase from $175,000 last year — District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey asked if it was worth closing Del Norte’s juvenile hall nearly three years ago.

Pointing to the state’s Title 15 staffing regulations, Reyman said it was the right decision.

“Because we were operating outside of Title 15 regulations, (the state) would have come in, they would have imposed a CAP, a corrective action plan, and our response would have been we’re going to hire more people,” he told Starkey. “Our reality would have been that we were in the same spot, rolling (probation officers) in to continue to operate the hall, and the state would have shut us down.”

Within the Probation Unit itself, which includes core probation services for adults and juveniles, expenses are projected to be $5.5 million, offsetting revenue is expected to be about $3.7 million and the net cost to Del Norte County is $1.75 million.

According to Reyman’s presentation about 45% of those expenditures pay for staff. Another major expense is for services, this includes case management software and drug testing as well as monthly visits to in-custody youth outside of the county. Professional development is also an expense.

Del Norte Probation draws from a variety of state revenue streams for both juvenile and adult probation services and programs. Another revenue source is Proposition 64 grant money Probation has received and is working with the Del Norte County Office of Education to administer and use those funds to benefit local youth.

Reyman noted that in some cases the offsetting revenue noted in his budget hasn’t been received yet.

“It’s fairly typical with state funds,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why you see year-to-date revenue and it doesn’t quite match.”

District 4 Supervisor Joey Borges had noted that the Probation Unit’s year-to-date revenue was $1.3 million while its projected revenue was $3.7 million.

Starkey, meanwhile, noted that in July 2025 Del Norte Probation was supervising 453 adults, but as of June 2026, the number of adults on probation dwindled to 293, based on statistics Reyman provided. 

“At what point are you going to look at those stats and think, this is how we determine if you reduce staff or you add staff?” Starkey asked. “I hear you are a very complex department and you do so much, but we probably need to do a forensic audit or something to see what makes sense for this department and how much staff you currently have and how much you could eliminate or you could add later on.”

Reyman said he agreed with Starkey and noted that a juvenile probation officer position that was eliminated was part of the county’s compensation and structural organization analysis that was completed about a year ago.

“As it sits now, even with the high demand that juvenile cases have — I think we have 14 or 15 kids on probation — if we were to have a team of two POs with a supervisor, we believe that would be sufficient to meet that need,” Reyman said. “Anecdotally, we are so desperately just trying to get things done right now, we haven’t hit that point where we can take a breath and say, ‘How many people do we need?’”

The probation chief noted that his department hasn’t been in a position to fill a vacant supervising probation officer position to oversee the Reentry Services Division. One possibility they’re discussing is whether a single supervisor could handle both juvenile probation and reentry services.

Meanwhile, Del Norte County continues to contract with Humboldt, Mendocino, Shasta and Sonoma counties to house in-custody youth. According to Reyman’s presentation, Humboldt’s standard “bed-day rate” has increased from $115 to $227 per day. Mendocino’s has gone up from $175 to $200. Shasta’s bed-day rate has increased from $175 to $325 and Sonoma County’s bed-day rate has gone up to $403 from $300.

El Dorado County is also housing a Del Norte County youth at $400 per day, Reyman said.

“Our process is Humboldt is first in line because they’re closest (and) they’re also relatively affordable given what we’re seeing elsewhere,” he said. “Mendocino is our second choice and then usually Shasta, but after the first two, we’re making phone calls on a wing and a prayer.”

Despite the increase to $360,000 for the custody agreements with Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Shasta and El Dorado counties, Reyman said his department was able to reduce the Reentry Services Unit budget by $113,200. The decision to defund the unit’s supervisor position is the reason for those savings, Reyman said.