City decides flat rate for inmates

EL DORADO — The city of El Dorado has stuck with its proposal to pay a flat rate of $162,000 a year to house city inmates in the Union County Jail.

The El Dorado City Council voted on the matter during a regular meeting on Thursday and included a proviso authorizing city representatives who serve on a city-county jail subcommittee to continue negotiations and return to the council with possible adjustments should any issues arise in the future with the operation of the jail.

Aldermen did not accept a counter-offer of $200,000 from the Union County Quorum Court.

They emphasized, however, that the matter remains open.

“We’re not backing away from the table. If any issues come up, we want to still sit at the table and discuss it,” Alderman Vance Williamson.

Williamson serves on the subcommittee with Alderman Willie McGhee, Police Chief Billy White, and Capt. Michael Leveritt, also of the El Dorado Police Department.

Discussions about the issue have been ongoing since the quorum agreed to a request by Mayor Frank Hash last spring to hold off on plans to raise the daily jail rate from $30 to $35.

The increase was to have gone into effect in August, but it was postponed until Jan. 1 to allow city officials, at the behest of Hash, time to review the 2016 city budget and prepare the 2017 budget.

Hash also asked that city officials be allowed to participate in discussions about the matter with the quorum court’s jail committee.

He pointed out that the city had to absorb a jail rate increase of $28 to $30 in January. White has said he had to add $100,000 to the $232,000 jail budget to make it through the year.

The $162,000 offer was based on city arrest records for the past two years and the maximum federal rate allowed, $50.

At issue is whether the city is responsible for paying the daily rates for inmates after they have been convicted and sentenced to jail on misdemeanor offenses.

City officials have argued that El Dorado should not be responsible for the daily jail fee for inmates that are brought in by the police department until the defendants are sentenced to jail on a misdemeanor offense.

They are relying on a Mississippi County Circuit Court ruling in January that defines prisoners of municipalities as those who are arrested and jailed for violating city ordinances.

White said he checked with 11 other cities around the state.

“Some pay a flat rate, but none of them continue to pay post-conviction,” White said.

“An opinion is not state law,” said county Justice of the Peace Dean Storey, who serves on the jail subcommittee.

“But it sets a precedent,” Williamson pointed out.

Storey said a check with the Association of Arkansas Counties showed that the state average jail fee is $50 per day.

Williamson reiterated that the city wants to be fair, and the $162,000 averages out to a daily rate of $50. The daily average for the $200,000 is $61, he said.

“I appreciate your generosity, but it still leaves us shy $100,000,” Storey said. “Onehundred and sixty-two thousand is not a negotiation. I misunderstood. I thought it was an open offer.”

McGhee and Williamson said the city has not closed the door on the issue.

The city council and quorum court have both cited a tough financial year amid efforts to develop their respective 2017 budgets.

“For us, it’s about finding the extra $40,000 that y’all want,” McGhee said, referring to the county’s $200,000 flat-rate proposal.

“That also factors in years past where we have tremendously overpaid,” Alderman Judy Ward said.

Another point that has been raised by city officials is that El Dorado is the only city in the county that pays a rate to house its inmates in the jail.

Hash also noted that the city does not benefit from inmate labor that is done to work off fines.

Much of the work, he said, is performed in the county.

“They’re given a credit by the court against their fines, but the city doesn’t see the fines or the labor,” Hash said.

McGhee said the subcommittee has also discussed inviting the 35th Judicial District judge — including outgoing Judge Van Hook and the incoming judge will be elected on Nov. 8 — to the meetings to discuss possible alternatives to sentencing.

In other business, Hash said he is scheduled to meet with county Judge Mike Loftin to discuss the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.

County officials have talked about dissolving the pro rata agreement with the city to share annual expenses at the facility.

During a quorum court meeting Thursday, JP Johnny Burson made a motion to that effect, but it failed to receive a second.

County officials have expressed concern about several issues, including how certain line-items in the complex budget are reimbursed by league fees; why admission is not charged for regular league games; and the rental rate for the concessionaire.

Earlier this week, Loftin said the county will continue to pay half of the expenses that fall within the budget, minus half of the revenue that is taken into the facility.

He said the county will no longer share any expenditure overages.

“We’re working on a plan and a budget. I’m going to meet with Judge Loftin next Monday so we can see just what the issues are that the county has at the complex,” Hash told aldermen on Thursday.