The Butler County Prison will lose nearly half of its state inmates, and stands to miss about $400,000 as a result.

Warden Joe DeMore said Tuesday at the county prison board meeting that the state prison inspector told him the prison only can have 30 state inmates.

Currently, the prison has 53 state inmates. DeMore said the prison slowly will pull state inmates out during the next few months to get the number down to 30.

DeMore said, to be safe, he budgeted for this year to have only 30 state inmates.

Commissioner Kevin Boozel said this change could mean the prison will lose about $400,000 in revenue, a number that DeMore confirmed.

DeMore said he is looking into ways to make up for the lost revenue. In the future, he said the county may lose all of its state inmates, noting that the state Department of Corrections population is going down.

“It’s dropped,” DeMore said.

The prison has a total of 352 inmates.

Also at the meeting, DeMore said he changed the holiday work schedules at the prison this year.

In the past, he said the prison would be fully staffed for holidays, including nonessential personnel. These nonessential employees get paid holiday pay — time and a half — for working holidays.

For example, the corrections officer stationed in the mailroom was set to work on holidays — including holidays when no mail is delivered.

For cases like these, DeMore said he now is offering nonessential employees the option of working at a different position for the day or taking the day off.

For Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, he said seven officers chose to take the day off without pay. If the same number of employees chose to take off all 13 county holidays, this could save the prison about $20,000.

In another financial report, county Controller Ben Holland, who is on the board, reported that the prison ended 2015 with revenues totaling $2 million, which is about $150,000 more than expected.

Additionally, the prison ended the year spending only $10.9 million, which is about $445,000 less than expected. However, Holland said this amount did not include payroll accruals. He said he hopes to have information on accruals at February’s meeting.

In other action, the board

n Voted to recommend the county commissioners approve an amendment to the prison’s food service contract with Trinity Services. DeMore said the cost per meal per inmate will go up three cents. The current price per meal is $1.29, he said.

n Voted to elect Sheriff Mike Slupe as board chairman and District Attorney Rich Goldinger as vice chairman. Each vote was 4-3, with Slupe, Goldinger, Holland and Judge William Shaffer voting for Slupe and Goldinger. County commissioners Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel voted for Boozel for both positions.