The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners approved a plan Wednesday to add staffing to the county jail when the 112-bed addition opens.

The plan allocates $1.2 million from the jail overcrowding reserve fund, in addition to the $1.2 million already appropriated in the 2010-2011 budget, for increased staffing.

Four sergeants, 19 correctional officers, and 16 community service officers will be added to the payroll. In total, the jail - which had the smallest number of beds per capita in the state - will grow to 444 beds.

“Our administrative staff and the sheriff’s staff have worked hard to come up with a plan that is as cost-effective as possible and still puts the sheriff in the position to run the jail in a way that he feels is necessary to maintain the safety of the staff and the safety of the guests, so to speak,” said Commissioner Jeff Irwin.

The solution got preliminary approval in a commission work session March 18. It is based on a formula that calculates the number of staff positions needed against the number of hours that are actually worked.

Irwin pointed out that for some years, the county was paying overtime to correctional officers while also boarding inmates at other facilities around the state.

“That was also very costly,” he said. “So one of the things we’ve done, by increasing the size of the facility, obviously, we’re bringing that effort and expense in-house.”

But he added the situation will be “a challenge going forward, of course, because county revenues are declining, and this is the area where our costs have been rising steadily over the years.”

For the moment, though, the county board received some good news on budget issues.

Despite facing budget problems that forced cuts in many departments, the county finished 2009 with a general fund surplus of $584,000 and increased its fund balance to $9.8 million.

“That really speaks well to our finances,” said interim finance director Peter Collinson.

The amount equals about one month’s worth of operating expenses, Collinson said.

And the county maintains its good credit rating for bonding purposes. Collinson noted only three other counties in the state achieved high ratings.

“We’ve pinched our pennies, and we’ve got a $584,000 surplus,” said Commissioner Leah Gunn. “Congratulations to all around.”

Authentication of the county’s healthy fiscal practices came in the form of an award for financial reporting.

Carla Sledge, Wayne County’s chief financial officer and a past president of the Government Finance Officers Association, presented the GFOA’s certification of achievement for excellence in financial reporting.

She said of the state’s 2,800 governmental units, only 99 were given the award. “To be one is quite outstanding,” Sledge said.

It is the 19th time the county has received the honor since 1945.

Ronald Ahrens is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.