Benton County officials eye jail lawsuit

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County justices of the peace on Monday debated the merits of suing the state over jail fees and county road taxes, arguing state laws and policies are depriving the county of needed revenue.

Kevin Harrison, justice of the peace for District 5 and chairman of the county's Legislative Committee, raised the prospect of the county taking legal action against the state on those issues during the committee's first meeting of the year and his first meeting as chairman. The committee discussed the jail fees paid by the state to counties for holding state prisoners and agreed they also need to be increased. The state now pays counties $28 per day for holding inmates and county costs are estimated at $50 per day, according to Harrison.

Jail Fees

For 2014, Benton County billed cities, along with state and federal agencies, $2,064,644 to pay for housing inmates in the county jail, according to information from Brenda Guenther, comptroller. Cities were billed for a total of $165,280, with the amounts ranging from $760 billed to Highfill to $48,120 billed to Bentonville. The county billed Siloam Springs $22,780 for holding city prisoners in 2014, while Rogers was billed $43,960 for prisoners from that city. Centerton was billed $11,700 last year.

Source: Benton County

Harrison initiated the discussion by asking the panel to consider a county ordinance increasing the fee charged to cities for holding prisoners in the county jail from $40 per day to $45. Harrison said the county should also set the fee for the state at the same rate.

"That jail belongs to the citizens of Benton County, not the state of Arkansas," Harrison said.

When Brent Meyers, justice of the peace for District 14, questioned the county's authority to simply set the level of payment and require the state to pay or remove state inmates from the jail Harrison said a lawsuit may be the only way to settle the issue.

"Any law is legal until it's challenged," Harrison said.

Harrison said he has been told the county's cost to house inmates is about $50 per day. He said the jail could be filled to capacity with city prisoners if the state inmates were removed, which would lessen the financial burden on the county.

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4, said he needed more information on how the state sets its reimbursement level.

"There's no law I'm aware of that says it's $28, that's just what they pay us." Allen said. "The only law it would be in would be the state budget. If it was a state statute, we couldn't just change it."

"Unless we challenged it in court," Harrison said.

Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, said she didn't want to pursue raising the fees for cities while the state reimbursement level remained so much lower. Anglin also questioned the chances of success in taking legal action.

"I don't think we're in a position to take on the state," she said. "They're going to give us what they're going to give us."

The committee tabled the ordinance raising the fees for cities for further discussion.

Harrison also said the county needs to consider another legal challenge to the distribution of revenue from the county's road millage. The county in 2008 lost a lawsuit seeking to overturn a state law that gives Bentonville, Rogers and Siloam Springs 90 percent of the revenue from the county road millage collected inside those cities. The state Supreme Court held the county failed to show the law violated the state Constitution's ban on local or special legislation. Harrison suggested the county consult an outside attorney to determine if the law could be challenged again with any chance of success. Allen said the law now costs the county about $2 million a year in revenue from the road millage.

Meyers said he wants the committee to consider a proposal he first raised last year to direct the Sheriff"s Office to dispose of some firearms now being destroyed by selling them at public auction. Meyers said some weapons being destroyed could bring thousands of dollars at auction.

"Why should we take antique firearms that are probably worth a few thousand dollars each and cut them up?" Meyers asked.

The committee agreed to keep the issue on it's agenda and Harrison said he will ask that someone from the Sheriff's Office attend the next meeting, set for 6 p.m. March 12. Meyers said he's become frustrated trying to get the Sheriff's Office to consider his proposal.

"I've been trying for a year to get an opinion from the Sheriff's Office and I'm tired of spinning my wheels," he said. "I think we're throwing away a lot of money."

No one from the Sheriff's Office was at Monday's meeting, which Meyers also questioned. Harrison said he had been told someone would attend to meeting to discuss the jail fees and another ordinance relating to residency requirements for deputy sheriff's which was tabled because no one was at the meeting to answer questions raised by the committee.

"They want something from us, they're here," Meyers said. "We want something from them, they don't show up."

Harrison said he will repeat his request to have someone attend the committee's meetings when needed.

"They will know very clearly I'm not happy," he said.

A call to Sheriff Kelley Cradduck's county cellphone was not returned by press time.

NW News on 02/03/2015

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