A finalized consultant report forwarded to the state Office of Financial Management Wednesday recommends that the state close Maple Lane School in Grand Mound for youth offenders to save money, as the draft last month implied.

    The final report is virtually identical to the draft, in which consultants from Christopher Murray and Associates were asked to decide whether it would be more feasible to close Green Hill School in Chehalis or Maple Lane.

    Legislators from the 20th District, including House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, and Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, have criticized the parameters of the study as being political.

    The study was authorized in the final version of the state budget, and Democrats specifically excluded other juvenile detention facilities from scrutiny.

    The report offers no other options for the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration to save $12 million in a projected dwindling budget. According to the report, the operations of Maple Lane cost about $17.4 million each year.

    The report estimates about 284 jobs would be eliminated should Maple Lane close. About 79 jobs would be added at Echo Glen Children’s Center and 83 added to Green Hill school.

    The Department of Corrections and Developmental Disabilities Division would also have to tighten their belts under the budget cuts, according to the reports.

    The study suggested the state downsize its McNeil Island Corrections Facility and close others.

    Gov. Chris Gregoire will take the recommendations under advisement as the Office of Financial Management drafts the governor’s 2010 supplemental budget, which will be released in December, according to a release from the OFM.

    Gregoire’s budget office suggested the closure of Naselle Youth Camp in Pacific County in her supplemental budget early this year. The state House of Representatives mirrored that suggestion, but the Senate recommended the closure of Green Hill.

    When the final budget was approved the study was funded, though only Green Hill and Maple Lane were included.

    To view the full report, visit the OFM’s Web site at ofm.wa.gov.