The Lackawanna County Prison finished 2025 almost $950,000 under its overtime budget for the year after exceeding its 2024 overtime budget by more than $300,000.

Final figures for 2025 are listed in an overtime comparison chart included with materials Warden Tim Betti presented to the county prison board last week at the board’s first meeting of 2026. The prison incurred about $1.55 million in overtime costs last year, roughly $948,932 under its $2.5 million budget, compared to about $2.9 million in overtime costs the year prior, when the budget for overtime spending was $2.6 million.

Final 2025 overtime expenses were also considerably lower than the roughly $2.49 million in such costs the prison incurred in 2023, when officials finished the year barely under their $2.5 million overtime budget.

Curtailing overtime spending as part of a broader effort to mitigate personnel costs, a key element of the county’s five-year financial management plan, remains a priority focus for county officials who often complimented Betti and prison administrators over the past year for success in that area.

Asked in October about the trend of reduced overtime spending, Betti partly attributed it to “maintaining as full of a complement as we can of full-time employees” and to a drop in “FMLA usage” — leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act, including intermittent FMLA where leave is taken in smaller increments — by corrections officers.

Officials have also attributed some of the success to improved shift planning and efforts to minimize staff vacancies.

The 2026 county budget Commissioners Thom Welby, Bill Gaughan and Chris Chermak unanimously approved in December includes a $1.85 million line item for prison overtime this year.

Terminations

Last week’s prison board meeting also featured an executive session, after which the board voted unanimously to terminate two prison employees whom officials didn’t publicly identify.

“We are seeking to get board approval on the topic of the two terminations that we say are for just cause of those individuals that we spoke of,” Betti told the board after the executive session and prior to the vote.

What jobs the two individuals held at the prison and what led to their firings was not immediately clear. Betti did not immediately respond to an emailed request for additional information.

Equipment

Before the executive session, Betti also discussed with the board the potential use of inmate canteen funds, money generated from commissary sales at the prison, to purchase a new dishwasher and dental equipment for the jail.

“We do need one,” the warden said of the dishwasher, noting the prison uses Styrofoam trays when its dishwasher isn’t working. “We spent $42,000 last year between repairs and Styrofoam trays for every time that it went down. That’s almost half the price of a brand new dishwasher, which would be about ($100,000).”

Officials also seek approval to eventually use canteen funds to buy what Betti described as a “digital x-ray machine” for the prison’s on-site dental office, part of the jail’s medical department. Betti, who said such a purchase will likely cost $10,000-$15,000, noted a dentist comes to the prison every Tuesday to do dental work for inmates.

The board tabled a vote on the dishwasher purchase and didn’t take any formal action on the potential purchase of the x-ray machine.

Reorganization

The board opened last week’s meeting by reorganizing for 2026, with members retaining county Judge Michael Barrasse as board chairman and Sheriff Mark McAndrew as vice chairman.

They’re also maintaining the same meeting schedule in 2026, with monthly meetings happening the third Wednesday of each month at 12:30 p.m.

While most prison board meetings are held in the fifth-floor conference room of the county government center in downtown Scranton, the board will meet quarterly at the jail on North Washington Avenue in the city. Those meetings are scheduled for March 18, June 17, Sept. 16 and Dec. 16.