Dodge County does not run its own jail, and that dependence just got a lot more expensive. The Olmsted County Board of Commissioners voted 4-3 this week to raise the daily fee it charges Dodge County to house detainees from $75 to $323 per day, a more than fourfold increase that has Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose scrambling to find bed space elsewhere.
The vote, detailed by WJON, split the Olmsted County board along familiar lines. Commissioners Mark Thein, Laurel Podulke-Smith, Gregg Wright, and Michelle Rossman voted in favor of the increase, while David Senjem, Bob Hopkins, and Brian Mueller opposed it. According to the outlet, Thein, Wright, Podulke-Smith, and Rossman argued that Olmsted County taxpayers should not be subsidizing detention costs for another county.
Dodge County is one of just eight of Minnesota's 87 counties that does not operate an active jail facility, according to the Dodge County Independent. That structural gap has forced the county to rely entirely on inter-county agreements to house anyone awaiting trial or serving short sentences, with the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center in Rochester holding between 23 and 28 Dodge County detainees per month, per WJON's reporting.
How the Per Diem Kept Climbing
The arrangement between the two counties dates back to 2022, when the initial per diem was set at $60 per detainee per day before rising to $75 as regional costs increased, the Dodge County Independent reports. Sheriff Rose had estimated that Dodge County was spending roughly $200,000 annually for bed space at the $75 rate, a figure the newly approved $323 fee would dramatically outpace.
That $75 rate, the Independent notes, was based on Minnesota Sheriff's Association benchmark figures meant for supplemental bed usage rather than full cost recovery — a model sheriffs favor because it lets them generate revenue from excess capacity without adding fixed staffing costs. The new $323 figure, by contrast, was calculated by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, according to WJON. State data helps explain the gap: the Department of Corrections' 2024 Performance Report put the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center's average daily cost per detainee at $341.10, backed by annual operating expenses exceeding $15.7 million for an average daily population of nearly 127 inmates.
A Rejected Compromise
Before the board settled on $323, it considered and rejected an amended motion to set the rate at $100 per day. That figure had the backing of both sheriffs involved — Dodge County's Scott Rose and Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson jointly supported it, according to WJON, with Rose describing $100 as a number he believed could win approval from elected leaders on the board. Rose said the $100 rate would have generated up to $300,000 in annual revenue for Olmsted County while keeping the partnership intact.
Rose also said the existing agreement had provided operational efficiencies for both counties, allowing the Dodge County Sheriff's Office to use existing bed space in Rochester without requiring additional staffing or expanded facility capacity of its own. He posted a letter addressed to the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners on the Dodge County Sheriff's Office Facebook page laying out his objections, and in it praised the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office for its role in the partnership.
Looking to Steele County and Beyond
With the higher rate now in place, the Dodge County Sheriff's Office says it is seeking a new facility to house its detainees rather than continue paying $323 a day in Mantorville, where the department is based. Rose has contacted other neighboring counties about detention services, and WJON reports that those counties have advised him they currently have available bed space and would welcome the opportunity to house Dodge County's detainees.
The Olmsted County Adult Detention Center itself opened in 1993 as a maximum-security facility and carries a rated capacity of 202 beds alongside a separate Work Release Facility, according to Olmsted County Government. Rose has served as Dodge County Sheriff since his election in November 2014, operating out of the Dodge County Courthouse in Mantorville — the oldest working courthouse still in use in Minnesota, per the Dodge County Sheriff's Office — a historic complex that was never built with modern detention cells.
Inter-county jail shopping is not unique to Dodge County. In Minnesota, counties routinely shift detention partners to chase better rates, as when Cass County switched its 40-bed contract from Crow Wing County, at $68.02 per day, to Itasca County, at $56.55 per day, in 2023 to save an estimated $170,000 annually, according to KAXE. The stakes of losing reliable bed space are real for Dodge County: serious local cases, including a February 2025 child sexual assault case involving two Dodge Center residents, have depended on the Olmsted County jail to hold defendants on bail pending court proceedings, according to KROC-AM News.
