Agreement reached on costs of JDC

Miller County, Texarkana have tentative pact over housing juvenile offenders

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Miller County and city officials have tentatively reached a preliminary agreement regarding municipal-county cost sharing for holding city juvenile offenders in the county’s Juvenile Detention Center.

Arkansas city officials recently met with Miller County’s Juvenile Jail and Budget Committee members to hash out a tentative — though yet unofficial — agreement to have the city help the county pay for the housing of municipal juvenile offenders.

“Back in about the early 2000s, the city paid for a couple of years, but not since then,” Miller County Budget Manager and Finance Committee Chairman Ernest Pender said.

Presently, the county finances the daily cost of housing juveniles at $250 per juvenile per day

The committee accepted City Manager Jay Ellington’s proposal to pay the county $80 per city inmate per day to help offset the county’s cost. The arrangement will last at least until the end of the year, at which time the committee will seek to meet with the city again to see if the city can afford more.

Miller County JDC Committee Chairman John Haltom said he thinks the city’s current offer is a step in the right direction.

“I think the city has worked with us well on this, and it would be my recommendation that we approve their offer for now,” Haltom said.

The county’s JDC holds 10 to 32 juveniles at a time on average, with 80% city inmates and 20% county inmates.

Apart from the city’s $80 offer, the committee is also looking at the city reimbursing the county retroactively to January once this year ends.

The city’s $80 offer will need to be approved by the county’s Quorum Court during its regular monthly meeting next week.