A jail facility in Banning intended to relieve overcrowding in other detention facilities should be completed on time, but workers needed to staff it haven't been hired due to budget constraints, Riverside County's sheriff told the Board of Supervisors today.

Sheriff Stan Sniff appeared before the board during a review of financial activity in county government in the first quarter of the 2009-10 fiscal year.

The sheriff provided an optimistic assessment of his department's efforts to pare down a $22.3 million deficit. But he said financial challenges had interrupted hiring the personnel needed to work in the new cell blocks being added to the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility.

The jail's new sections are slated to open in March, but 142 support positions remain unfilled, Sniff said.

Without the necessary clerks, custodial workers, cooks and mechanics to help operate the jail, opening the new pods may have to wait, the sheriff said.

"It's going to be a little awkward, spending $80 million in public funds and not being able to open all or the majority of those cells, those desperately needed cells,'' he said.

The sheriff requested funding to pay for the positions last May, but the board, confronted with a $50 million structural budget deficit, stood by a countywide hiring freeze.

County Executive Officer Bill Luna said today the freeze had been lifted. But Sniff told City News Service he still cannot move ahead with adding to his department's civilian workforce without new money.

"Regardless of what the E.O. says, any department operating in the red is not out of a hiring freeze,'' the sheriff stated. "I get it that everybody's in a budget crunch. But I can't hire unless I can get an acknowledgement from the board that I'm going to have some way to pay for those positions.''

Board Chairman Jeff Stone said he couldn't accept allowing the new space at Smith to go unused when "the citizens of this county have spent dearly'' to have it built.

"I don't believe in building facilities we can't staff,'' Stone said. ``We must staff this jail to its fullest potential.''

The chairman also worried about what effect budget constraints might have on the proposed Riverside County Regional Detention Center.

Plans are being drawn up for the 1,800-bed facility, slated to be built in or near the Banning Pass in the next four years. The preferred spot is Whitewater, just west of Palm Springs.

Environmental impact assessments have yet to be completed.

"It's going to be a debacle if we move forward with constructing a facility prior to having the staff to manage our existing facilities to their maximum potential,'' Stone said.

"We need to take a second look at the mid-county detention center and not begin to build it or invest more money in it until such time that we have revenue projections firmly on the ground that we can staff it.''

The estimated cost of constructing the new detention facility is $300 million.

Supervisor Marion Ashley said planning for the project should continue, despite uncertainties, and Stone agreed.

Sniff told the board that when it comes time to hire the 450 personnel needed to staff the regional jail, the same issues complicating hiring at the Smith facility may crop up.

"We're cognizant that, because of our size, wherever we stretch or expand, it's at the cost of another department,'' the sheriff told City News Service. "There's clearly not enough revenue to go around. But the board sets policy ... on priorities for spending with limited funds.''

According to Sniff, though the sheriff's civilian workforce is insufficient, he has the minimum number of correctional deputies required to staff the new jail pods at Smith, which will comfortably hold 600 inmates. The sheriff emphasized, however, that attrition may thin his ranks further.

"If an agency is not hiring, it's going backwards,'' he said.

Come January, the board will need to address the staffing deficit at the Smith detention center or risk delaying opening the jail's new sections for months, according to the sheriff. He added, however, that cell blocks could be activated on a phased-in basis, depending on the size of the jail workforce.

In 2007, because of overcrowding and federal limits on prisoner confinement, the county released 6,000 inmates -- including burglars, drug dealers and individuals convicted of assault -- before the completion of their terms.