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Who should be setting the rates to house municipal inmates at the Clay County Detention Center and what the rates should be set at is at the heart of a disagreement between the Clay County Commission and Sheriff Bob Boydston.

Cities are currently being charged $25 per inmate per day, with that figure dropping to $20 a day if videoconferencing services are used for arraignment.

Boydston said in a meeting with the commission Aug. 3 that he informed the county administration of his plan to implement the new rates in January.

He also said state statutes are somewhat vague on who has the right to set the rates and asked for a mediator or meeting with the commission and county administration to resolve the issue.

“I don’t feel our differences are insurmountable,” he said.

Presiding Commissioner Ed Quick said the commission set the rate for prisoners at $31 a day in December 2008.

“We were clear on what those fees would be,” Quick said.

Boydston said he was unaware that the rates had already been set in December.

Eastern Commissioner Katee Porter said she learned about the lower rates being implemented by reading the local paper.

“No one ever let us know this was occurring,” she said.

Porter said she had also asked for specific information earlier this year from the sheriff’s office and never received it.

“The only thing I ever got from you on your embossed stationary was about employee pay raises,” she told Boydston.

Western Commissioner Larry Larson expressed concern that the rates being charged to municipalities by the sheriff’s office weren’t realistic and costing the county money it could not afford to lose.

“Shouldn’t the actual detention costs be the controlling factor?” he said.

Porter agreed.

“The bottom line is there’s a cost to the county for housing prisoners,” she said.

Commissioners cited daily costs being more than $40 per prisoner.

Boydston said he believed the actual cost was closer to $24 to $28 per day.

“You can’t leave revenue from the law enforcement sales tax out of the equation either,” he said.

The eighth-cent law enforcement sales tax, which is up for renewal in November, generates close to $3 million a year.

In response to a question about the price of housing additional prisoners, Boydston said costs were being kept down through the economy of scale.

The questions didn’t stop there.

Commissioners asked Boydston if there were contracts in place with the municipalities whose prisoners are being housed in the detention center, noting they had not seen any.

Boydston said they were making the move to contracts, currently operating with intergovernmental agreements and memorandums of understanding.

The issue is key as only the county commission has the authority to enter into contracts.

ONLINE

Another meeting between the Clay County Commission and Sheriff Bob Boydston was held for Monday, Aug. 10. For more on the outcome of that meeting, visit smithvilleherald.com.

Senior writer Mark Johnson can be reached at 781-4941.

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