Audio clip
Hamilton County Commission agenda
Hamilton County commissioners on Thursday discussed a proposal to increase the fee charged to prisoners each day from $28 to $40.
The fee hike could generate about $145,000 a year in additional revenue, said Scott Schoolfield, the county’s human services administrator.
Mr. Schoolfield said Thursday afternoon that the fees are collected by the Criminal Court clerk. If the prisoner does not pay any amount, he said, it still is owed to the county.
Jail fees have not gone up since 1985, and during that time the expense of housing a prisoner has jumped from an average of $28 daily to $59.24 a day at the jail and $42.75 a day at the Silverdale Detention Center, according to the county.
During the Security and Corrections Committee meeting Thursday morning, commissioners also discussed the possibility of increasing the daily prisoner fee to $48.
“If we’re going to do it at all, why don’t we go ahead and do the $48 (figure)?” Commissioner Larry Henry said.
Mr. Schoolfield said an increase to $48 a day could bring in an added $242,000 annually, and a hike to $51 a day could generate an extra $278,000 a year.
If commissioners went with the $40 figure instead of $48, taxpayers would have to pay for that difference, Commissioner Jim Coppinger said.
“The taxpayers are the ones that need to be rewarded, not the people that are misbehaving,” Mr. Coppinger said.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Greg Beck said he wants more time to look at the fee increase proposal.
The committee is expected to talk about the proposal again April 10, Mr. Henry said.
Meanwhile, during the morning agenda session, several county commissioners expressed concerns about a proposed 20 percent rate hike by Tennessee-American Water Co.
“I don’t think we’re charging them anymore to take (water) out of the Tennessee River or to manufacture it,” said Commissioner John Allen Brooks. “I would hope that we as a commission look at this with a true critique.”
The water company has gone to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority with the rate increase proposal. President John Watson has told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the company wants to generate more revenue to pay for infrastructure investments.
Mr. Henry said after the meeting that a requested report on area water rates should be available soon from County Auditor Bill McGriff.
BY THE NUMBERS
* $8: daily prisoner jail fee before a 1985 increase
* $28: daily prisoner jail fee after the 1985 increase
* $1,693,213: total in jail fees brought in between 2003 and 2007
Source: Hamilton County Department of Corrections
