Dave Denich, coordinator of the Heart of America Community Service Program gave an annual report at the county commissioners July 3 meeting. The area he collects data for are the three counties of Pierce, McHenry, and Bottineau.

The fiscal year for the community service program runs from July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012. The program totals for all three counties combined included the following:

Total number of cases: 227 with a total number of hours worked: 8,703 for a total value savings to the county of $69,624.00 at a rate of $8 per hour. The total number of adult offenders for the three counties was 192 with 7,653 hours worked and a total value of $61,224. The number of juvenile offenders was 35 with 11,050 hours worked and a total value of $8,400.00.

Pierce County had a total number of community service cases of 61 of which 53 were adult offenders and 8 were juvenile offenders. The total number of hours worked for the two groups was 2,055 and a total value of $16,440.00.

Nearby Bottineau County had a total number of cases at 58 with 40 of those adult offenders and 18 juvenile offenders. The total number of hours worked between the two types was 1,747 with a total value of $13,976.00.

In contrast, McHenry had a total number of 108 cases of which 99 were adult offenders and 9 were juvenile offenders. The total number of hours worked between the two groups was 4,901 with a total value of $39,208.00.

In comparing the results of 2012 vs. 2011, the adult cases for Pierce County were up by 2 while the juvenile cases were down by 11. In Bottineau County the adult cases were down by 1 and juvenile cased were down by 11. In McHenry County, adult cases were increased by 43 and juvenile cases were down by 7. The reason for the increase in adult cases may be the result of a new state’s attorney in that county who is vigilant guessed Denich. Denich said in investigating the decrease in juvenile cases in all three counties, he found out that this has been a trend across the state for the last four to five years. He didn’t know what the reason for the decline was.