BENTONVILLE — When the Quorum Court meets tonight, it will do so to decide whether to increase the fees charged to local cities for housing prisoners in the county jail.
Justices of the peace began looking at the possibility of increasing jail fees from $32.50 per day to $40 per day in August when Justice Bobby Hubbard brought up the idea after learning it was costing the county to house prisoners placed in the county jail by the cities.
"Our costs have been rising in the jail, and (those costs) are exceeding what we have been charging (the cities)," Hubbard said previously.
When the ordinance was originally proposed in August, its intent was to increase the jail fees as early as Oct. 1, but the Quorum Court elected not to do sountil Jan. 1.
Should the ordinance go through all three required readings, the increase in jail fees will take effect Jan. 1.
Other items on the Quorum Court's agenda include the following:
◊A resolution to adopt a Hazard Mitigation Plan;
◊An appropriation ordinance to create the "Internet Crimes Against Children Grant Fund" that will allow the Sheriff's Office to purchase equipment and pay overtime to investigators charged with investigating Internet predators;
◊An appropriation ordinance to create the "Juvenile Assistance Grant - Juvenile Probation Pal Grant Fund"; and
◊An appropriation to create the "Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Fund." Money received through the grant will be used to conduct energy-efficiency studies on county-owned buildings and to make those buildings more energy efficient.
News, Pages 3 on 09/24/2009