Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines said he thinks the county's five largest cities will largely agree to his new contract proposal to fund the $25 million-a-year county jail before the current jail-funding agreement expires Aug. 1.

Pulaski County officials, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola and North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith discussed a new contract Monday afternoon at the offices of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. Afterward, the officials said they will revise some of the language in Villines' proposal, touch base as a group again and then put a new contract before their respective public boards.

"There's going to be a compromise," Smith spokesman Nathan Hamilton said.

Among the sticking points are how long the jail contract will last and at what rate the payments from cities will change.

Monday's meeting was not open to the public. The meeting at the chamber is the second such meeting this year on the jail and the fourth meeting among mayors to discuss the contract. Stodola said the chamber's interest in the negotiations has been focused on reaching an agreement.

Villines formally proposed last month that the county's five largest cities should begin paying larger sums of money every year, beginning in 2015 with a 5 percent payment increase to be followed by 3 percent cost-of-living increases every year afterward for nine years.

After the Monday meeting, Villines said the revisions to his proposal could include a switch from a 3 percent annual payment increase to an adjustment based on the consumer price index, which could vary.

"I'm OK with that," he said.

Villines said he also would be willing to shrink his 10-year contract proposal to five years if the mayors want a shorter term. Stodola has said he'd like any new contract to last less than 10 years.

Stodola said the cities have additional issues to discuss, including the county's contract with the U.S. Marshals Service for housing 80 federal prisoners a day and the rates the cities currently pay, which is what the new proposed contract is based on.

For example, Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher has said his city pays too much because it contributes more than Sherwood. The city has grown bigger than Jacksonville since the 1990s, when the current contract was established on the basis of how much each city had been paying to operate its own municipal jails.

Under the current contract, cities contribute $2.9 million to the $25 million Pulaski County jail budget. The county covers the remaining costs, with some reimbursements from the state and federal governments for holding inmates and using some court fines levied by city district courts.

The current contract, drafted in 1990 and effective Aug. 1, 1994, had the county's five largest cities -- Little Rock, North Little Rock, Jacksonville, Sherwood and Maumelle -- contributing $1.3 million for the first five years, when the jail cost about $10 million.

While the cost of the jail has increased since then, the county has contributed most of the funding.

Wrightsville and Cammack Village have also made small contributions since 2013 to open 80 jail beds after the county's construction of a 240-bed jail expansion. The remaining 160 beds are unfunded and unavailable for use.

Wrightsville and Cammack Village have not been a part of Villines' new contract proposal and could instead be subject to an ordinance being considered this month by the Quorum Court. In the absence of a new intergovernmental jail-funding agreement, the proposed ordinance would charge municipalities for inmates brought to the jail and held for city warrants before they are charged with a state or federal offense.

That method, according to county calculations for 2013, would have cost each of the five biggest cities more they have contributed to the jail.

A new contract could also be subject to revision, Villines said, if new legislation or revenue has a significant impact on the jail.

Stodola said he plans to lobby the Legislature to increase payments to county jails.

The Little Rock mayor has argued that the state is obligated to pay more than the $28 per day per inmate that it currently reimburses to the county for holding an inmate waiting for a prison bed or parole hearing.

The county has calculated the actual cost of holding an inmate to be $43.52 per day, including medical costs, which the state pays only after 30 days. According to the 2013 annual report from the Association of Arkansas Counties and Legislative Audit, the actual cost for holding inmates at county jails statewide averages $56 per day per inmate.

"The county is subsidizing the state to the tune of $28 a day," he said, calling the state's occupation of county jail space an "unfunded mandate."

"There probably wouldn't be a discussion about increasing the payments from cities if the state were paying the proper amount," he added.

Villines is not optimistic about the Legislature approving higher reimbursement rates for housing state inmates, however.

"Any idea that it's going to jump a great deal where it would really have an impact, I just don't think it'll happen," he said.

Metro on 07/08/2014