NATCHEZ — An Adams County judge says elected officials were missing important details last week during budgeting discussions.

Youth Court Judge John Hudson said Adams County officials weren’t looking at true costs when they compared the operational expenses of the county’s juvenile justice center to the costs incurred by other counties.

The county board of supervisors is in the process of planning its budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year, and will formally continue the discussion today after its regularly scheduled 9 a.m. meeting.

Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said the board will likely start making decisions about funding requests presented last week, including that of the youth court.

During the discussion with Hudson about the cost of the juvenile justice center, the supervisors asked the judge why Pike County was able to budget only $150,000 for juvenile detention.

The projected budget for the Adams County juvenile system is $589,000.

Hudson said Friday after investigation that number was reflective of a budget for housing only, and did not include the cost of transportation, liability coverage and personnel.

And while Pike County may have only budgeted $150,000 for the housing of juveniles — which is currently done in the Adams County facility since the closure of Pike’s juvenile detention center — the county has already exceeded that budget, Hudson said

Pike County has been invoiced for $178,950 for housing from August 2013 to July 2014.

According to a report Hudson prepared for the board, in 2014 Adams County sent invoices for $318,650 to other counties for the housing of youth prisoners. The City of Natchez also pays $64,000 annually.

If the county was to begin transporting youth offenders to the Rankin County youth facility, Hudson estimated the annual cost for transportation alone would $86,011.

That cost would be based on transportation costs being $0.55 a mile — including gasoline, vehicle costs and liability insurance — and the cost of a deputy assigned to transport.

The county would also have to hire a full-time detention coordinator to handle the placement of youth offenders in other jails at an estimated annual cost of $44,819, Hudson said.

Lodging alone would cost $201,025, according to Hudson’s report.

Other factors, such as the continued reduction of debt on the Adams County’s facility and the court’s likely decision to increase the use of electronic monitoring should the local facility close, should be considered, Hudson said.

“Now that we are a regional center, it would be absolutely foolhardy to do anything other than maintain your own facility,” Hudson said. “It wasn’t economically feasible to (shut it down) when we weren’t a regional center and were only making $50,000 a year. Do you really want to spend $200,000 a year more to shut down a facility that is there and working for public safety purposes?”

Grennell said Friday he had not had a chance to review the report, but would before the board made a decision.