County Sets Jail Fees

FARMINGTON — Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln will have to pay a daily fee to Washington County for housing municipal inmates unless the city council from each city approves a contract for services based on a per capita charge.

Washington County Quorum Court approved a daily fee of $63.12 per inmate at its Sept. 19 meeting for cities in the county that do not enter into a contract for housing municipal inmates. The daily fee would be effective Jan. 1, 2020.

The Quorum Court has discussed ways to handle the jail’s budget shortfall for more than a year. For 2020, estimates are that jail expenses will exceed revenues by about $1.5 million.

Mayors have received the 2020 agreement for housing inmates in lieu of paying a daily fee and it charges $2.50 per person based on 2018 population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. The agreement has to be approved, signed and forwarded to the Washington County judge’s office by Dec. 31.

According to the agreement, the per capita fee amount is calculated using the projected shortfall in the maintenance and operations budget of the county jail for the previous year. The projected shortfall is divided by the sum of

“I’ve been fighting

the populations of the cities and the unincorporated areas to determine the per capita fee.

For 2020, the per capita fee is based on a jail shortfall of $608,989. Farmington would pay $18,550 for a population of 7,218; Lincoln’s total would be $6,358 for a population of 2,474; Prairie Grove would pay $16,224 for a population of 6,313.

Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln mayors say they will recommend their city councils approve an agreement with the county to house municipal prisoners, instead of paying a daily fee per inmate.

Prairie Grove Mayor Sonny Hudson, however, said he does not like the ordinance as approved by the Quorum Court, nor the agreement as written.

“I’ve been fighting the whole thing from the beginning so I’m not tickled about it,” Hudson said. “I’m not happy with the whole deal.”

Hudson said mayors and county officials have met to discuss how to handle the cost of housing municipal prisoners and agreed as a group to go with a per capita contract. However, the ordinance as written is placing an ultimatum on cities, he said.

“The county is forcing the cities to sign the agreement because if they don’t, the per inmate, per day jail fee will be imposed on them,” Hudson said. “That’s something we agreed to do and now they’re making it an ultimatum. If we don’t do this, you’ll do the per day fee.”

The agreement as written is open-ended, Hudson said. Section 2 of the agreement says the county treasurer will estimate the jail shortfall by Sept. 1 of each year and then the county judge will send a notice to each city with the information about the estimated shortfall amount and population estimate to calculate the per capita fee for the next budget year.

The way the agreement is written, Hudson said, gives the county a blank check. The unknown will be the per capita fee the city will assess each year, he said.

“It says they’ll raise the fee every year if the deficit goes up, and cities will have to pay the new fee or be charged the per inmate, per day fee,” Hudson said. “There’s no negotiating.”

He added, “There’s so many things that aggravate the fire out of me. Let’s make this an agreement between the cities and the county and come back every year and have to pass it every year if they want to increase the per capita fee.”

Lincoln Mayor Doug Hutchens said the city sampled what it would cost per inmate per day for one month and decided a per capita agreement would be less expensive for Lincoln.

Lincoln’s per capita amount of $6,300 will make the budget tight for 2020, Hutchens said, noting that on Lincoln’s end, many of its fines and fees are not paid by defendants.

At issue, Hutchens said, is that the county needs more jail capacity. The population has grown in Northwest Arkansas, Hutchens said, but jail capacity has not been increased to meet the population growth.

Farmington Mayor Ernie Penn said he believes a per capita fee is the easiest, most effective method for everyone to pay from a budgetary standpoint.

“With the per capita fee, you know what you’re going to pay,” Penn said, as compared to a per inmate, per day charge. “It’s much more efficient and more fair.”

Having to pay the county per inmate/per day would have been an accounting nightmare, Penn said.

If cities decide to go with a per capita agreement, the fee is due by Feb. 1.

Sonny Hudson

Prairie Grove Mayor

the whole thing from the beginning so I’m not tickled about it. I’m not happy with the whole deal.”