Salt Lake County may have given itself some breathing room by adding beds to its two detention centers this summer, but looming changes to overcrowding rules have jail officials feeling unsettled.

Starting Sept. 1, a new state law will restrict the sheriff’s ability to issue overcrowding releases. The law, HB312, was sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, and was passed this year.

“It’s been a pretty hectic eight months or so since we’ve been moving in this direction to increase our capacity in the jail,” Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Matt Dumont told the County Council on Tuesday. “... [Issuing overcrowding releases] was one of our primary population controls in the jail.”

In preparation for the upcoming changes, the county added 248 new beds to its system on June 1 by opening up the third pod at the Oxbow Jail and transitioning 64 specialty beds at the Metro Jail to general housing.

While that increase has been successful — no inmates have been released due to overcrowding since the changes happened — Dumont told the County Council that capacity concerns persist.

The last time the Oxbow facility had its third pod open was in 2002, Dumont said in an interview.

“It’s almost a 35-year-old facility,” he said. “... Every time you add a person to the population there, it puts a little bit more of a strain on our infrastructure there. So we will need some help in maintaining that infrastructure, and making sure that we have a place that is appropriate for housing individuals.”

More aggressive enforcement from police in the county, meanwhile, has also driven up both jails’ populations, Dumont said. Those additional bookings increase the workload on the system’s judicial processing specialists, which means it can take more time to enter release and sentencing orders.

The sheriff’s office tries to keep about 10% of its general housing beds empty so it can account for any changes in the criminal justice system or large-scale crime busts that could bring an influx of inmates, Dumont said. General housing beds are reserved for inmates without special medical, behavioral or protective custody needs.

This summer, the sheriff’s office has generally been able to meet that 10% goal, but last weekend, the jail system had 7.5% of its beds vacant.

The growing population within the county jails and the county itself means the system will still need more jail beds despite the June increase, Dumont added.

“We have an amazing facilities team in the jail and we work incredibly well with Salt Lake County facilities,” Dumont said. “So when emergencies do pop up, we’re able to answer those emergencies. In the meantime, we request maintenance funds to help us maintain that infrastructure in those systems every year, and so we’re able to keep them going. But you know, especially with older systems, it takes money to keep them running.”

Last year, voters rejected a $507 million bond that would have expanded jail capacity by creating a new facility for repeat and low-level offenders and combining the county’s two existing jails into one.