Cities and towns will pay half the total of proposed jail booking fees beginning July 1 under an ordinance approved by the Navajo County Board of Supervisors on March 8.
Fees will be incurred for each individual booked into the county jail on a misdemeanor charge. The 50 percent payments will continue for three years, after which the board will review the fees and determine how much they should be increased.
“The plan has always been to phase in the fees over a period of time sufficient for the cities and towns to incorporate them into their budgets,” Assistant County Manager Dusty Parsons noted.
The supervisors previously approved an ordinance establishing the fees, but asked Parsons to work with officials from cities and towns to create an implementation schedule. Parsons noted that at one-half the total proposed rate, municipalities in Navajo County will be paying significantly less than in any other county.
The total daily rate for Navajo County, as established by the ordinance, is $68.41 for housing and $10 for non-routine medical expenses, for a total rate of $78.41. A $50 one-time booking fee is also included in the ordinance, for a total cost to municipalities of $128.41 on the first day, and $78.41 each day thereafter. Cities and towns will pay half that amount, however, for the next three years.
Parsons provided board members with the estimated contribution from each city, based on averages from the last three years. At the 50 percent rate, Holbrook is expected to pay $143,043 per year; Winslow, $120,784; Show Low, $78,714; Snowflake/Taylor, $39,840; and Pinetop-Lakeside, $37,504.
The estimated cost to the county to house inmates booked on misdemeanors after the one-half fee schedule is implemented is $671,812 per year.
Fees in the ordinance are based on the daily rate paid by the federal Bureau of Prisons to house inmates in the Navajo County Jail. If the daily rate is increased in the county’s next contract with the bureau, the fees charged to cities will increase accordingly.
Parsons previously pointed out that the fees are only assessed on inmates booked by city police departments on misdemeanor charges. They are not assessed on inmates booked for felony charges.
No town officials or members of the public spoke against the amendment to the ordinance. Holbrook Mayor Jeff Hill noted that the city is in support of the ordinance.
“We are not in a jail district, and the reason I support this is it’s going to force cities to go back and look at the misdemeanors they are enforcing,” he said. “We are all in a money crunch, and it’s time to go back and look at what we’re really going to enforce in misdemeanors, and it will help the city re-analyze and spend public funds even better.”
Board members unanimously approved the amended ordinance. Supervisors Jesse Thompson and David Tenney were absent from the proceedings.
