Increased Benton County jail fee helps battle rising costs

BENTONVILLE -- A proposed $10 increase in jail fees will get Benton County near the break-even point for housing inmates, but costs are expected to keep increasing, county officials said.

The Finance Committee floated a $5 increase for municipalities earlier this month, and passed the idea along to the Committee of the Whole on Oct. 11 where Justice of the Peace Brent Meyers suggested raising the fee another $5. The committee briefly discussed the $10 increase before endorsing it and pushing the item to the Quorum Court, which meets Thursday night.

The amount would increase from $50 to $60 per day, and would start Jan. 1. The national average to house a prisoner is between $72 and $75 a day, Benton County Jail Capt. Jeremy Guyll said. The Douglas County jail in Lawrence, Kan., charges $40 a day, Guyll said. Guyll visited that facility earlier this month to see a demonstration of a body scanner the jail hopes to purchase in 2019.

Data provided by Meyers shows 15 cities and the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport bring people to the jail at 1300 S.W 14th St. in Bentonville.

Kelly Cantrell, Washington County Sheriff's Office public information officer, said Washington County only charges Fayetteville. The charge is $62 per booking -- not a per-day fee. The last change was in January 2016 when the charge went from $60 to $62.

The arrangement was worked out between the city and county when Fayetteville closed its jail in 2005, Capt. Alan Johnson said.

Johnson said there are no set plans to charge other Washington County cities a booking fee for inmates.

"It's been discussed. Some of the JPs have brought it up. It's all preliminary," he said.

The Crawford County Quorum Court last week voted to replace a 20-year-old fee system that charged Crawford County municipalities $10 a meal for its prisoners in the county jail, essentially $30 a day, with a flat fee that will charge cities $40 a day per prisoner.

Brenda Guenther, Benton County comptroller, previously said the fee charged to cities has lagged behind costs.

The fee was $40 in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Quorum Court increased the fee to $45 in 2016 and to $50 in 2017, Guenther said.

The cost of housing an inmate for one day was estimated at $46 in 2013. That increased to about $53 in 2016. After the county added jail space the cost increased to $60 in 2017, Guenther said. The added space houses just more than 40 misdemeanor prisoners, and there are 10 lockdown cells for female inmates with disciplinary problems, Guyll said.

Information Meyers provided to the Committee of the Whole showed an increase of $10 would cost the cities a $222,180 annually. The cities are expected to pay $185,150 this year with the $50 fee.

Justice of the Peace Pat Adams is a proponent of the $10 increase.

"It gets us closer to the break-even point," Adams said. "At $60, we're a little under break even, but the county can make that up. No one is happy about more money coming out of their budgets, but it's not that much for the smaller cities, and it's an insignificant amount to the bigger cities."

Justice of the Peace Tom Allen said at the Committee of the Whole meeting the feedback he had received from some city officials is they did not want to see the county making a profit on housing local inmates.

"The cities are willing to work with us," Allen said. "They understand our position."

Salaries make up of 64.2 percent of jail costs, according to information from Guenther. Smaller costs include utilities, food and clothing, and medical expenses.

"A lot goes into housing a prisoner," Guyll said. "Stuff that people don't think about."

Some smaller police departments started to adjust how they looked at using the county jail even when the fee was $50.

Cave Springs' Police Department tries to issue citations to show up to court and release as many people as possible, thus avoiding trips to the jail, Chief Rick Crisman said.

Little Flock Police Chief Jesse Martinez also said his department tries to cite as many misdemeanor cases as possible instead of taking people to jail.

"We can't take a lot of people to jail because the jail is so full," Martinez said. "If it's not a violent crime, and if they don't need to see a judge we cite and release them."

Little Flock police arrested five people in one day last week. All five were allowed to bond out from a holding cell at the department, Martinez said.

The county receives $30 per day from the Arkansas Department of Correction for state prisoners. Chief Deputy Meyer Gilbert said the county receives $56 per day for housing federal prisoners.

Guyll admits there is little the county can do when it comes to money from the state.

"We don't have a lot of pull there," Guyll said. "You can't force the state. They pay what they want to pay."

Guyll backs the $10 increase for local municipalities.

"We were at $40 for years," Guyll said. "The cities have been real responsive. They just want to know before they do their budgets. It's not an unfair amount."

Adams expects jail fees will be back before the Quorum Court before too long.

"We can go two years, maybe even four years," Adams said. "The cost will keep going up."

NW News on 10/21/2018