Amid strong warnings that discretionary revenue continues to decline and more staffing reductions are on the horizon countywide, Riverside County supervisors today maintained they still must find a way to staff the new jail expansion in Banning.

Hiring for the nearly 600-bed expansion, to be ready in March, should have started in summer, Sheriff Stanley Sniff told the board today. Without a big staffing push, the county is eyeing a plan that would simply move inmates from existing cells to the new facility and not give the county any net gain.

Supervisors did not take lightly to the plan. They said they would not spend millions on infrastructure – especially at a time when the jail overcrowding crisis has forced thousands of inmates be released early each year – only to see it sit empty.

“We must, we must staff this jail, this detention center,” Supervisor Jeff Stone said. “We’re going to have to find the resources. … We’re going to find a way to make this happen.”

Beyond the immediate need in Banning, the proposed mid-county jail and those future staffing needs looms in the distance. The 7,200-bed facility, which has been discussed for a site along Interstate 10 in Whitewater, would likely be ready in 2013 or 2014. Even in a phased build-out, it would require hundreds of staff.

County officials said they wouldn’t delay the early prep-work for the plans as supervisors not finalized a location yet.

A county budget report presented today indicates sales tax and property tax revenue continues to decline and that projections need to be reduced another $20.2 million.

That puts the deficit to more than $70 million.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Desert Sun.