Multnomah County will spend some of its rainy-day funds to save a key pretrial release program that keeps those accused of a crime out of jail until their trial, freeing up limited jail beds for the most high-risk offenders.

The county Board of Commissioners approved a $1.36 million contingency fund request from the Sheriff’s Office last week, allowing Close Street Supervision to operate until the end of the fiscal year and buying officials time to ramp down the program.

Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell told the board in September that a $1.4 million cut to state funding for county jail beds would force her to end the pretrial supervision program to fill the budget gap. While the contingency funds will keep the program open for now, it’s unclear what will happen to the program at the

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