LITTLE ROCK — The Pulaski County Quorum Court is being asked to raise the cost of being cited for a misdemeanor or traffic violation to help raise additional money for the county jail.
The 15-member Pulaski County board is expected to vote on a draft ordinance tonight to raise the fee levied on top of any fine from $5 to $20. The change, if approved, would affect those who are convicted, plead guilty or forfeit bond in misdemeanor or traffic-violation cases heard in the county's district courts.
The 300 percent increase in the amount was authorized by the state Legislature in February with the passage of Act 209.
Proceeds from the fee increase must be used to defray the costs of maintaining and operating the county jail. The money can also be used for capital expenditures for the jail, according to the law.
Mike Lowery, chief deputy for the Pulaski County sheriff's office, said the $5 fee raised $291,903 for the jail in 2008.
He said it would be six months before he would be able to estimate how much more the increase will generate.
"I've heard a lot of figures thrown around out there," he said, adding that some estimates have been as high as $1 million. "I'm not sure it'll bring in as much as a lot of people think it will."
Lowery said that because people have less money lately to spend because of the poor economy, collecting fines generally may be difficult and people do have the option of community service in lieu of paying fines.
He said the money collected in the past has been used for things such as purchasing new jail vans or repairing the roof and air conditioning of the old jail.
If the higher jail fee generates enough revenue, it could potentially be used to pay for more jail beds, he said.
In February, the Quorum Court approved spending an additional $1.35 million to open 100 of the 250 beds in the jail's Work Release Center, a minimum-security facility planned to be used to handle the overflow of inmates booked into the jail. County officials have expressed hope that revenue generated by the increase in fees allowed by Act 209 will provide enough funding to open the remainder of those beds, bringing the county jail to its full capacity of 1,130 beds.
In county committee meetings earlier this month, only one justice of the peace voted against raising the county charge.
Julie Blackwood said she thought raising the fee would put an added burden on the jail.
"Most of the people who are doing the petty crimes are usually people who don't have any money in the first place," she said. "What happens if they can't pay the fines? ... They end up back in jail, and I've got to pay for them to be in jail. I feel like it perpetuates the problem."
Shirley Simpson, president and founder of County Jail Reform Now, a community advocacy group, said she, too, was against the proposal.
"I'm definitely not against the jail having more money to operate. That should happen," she said. "But I don't think this is the right way."
She said rather than increasing the fees, she believes the state ought to increase its reimbursement to county jails for holding state prisoners.
The Pulaski County jail was holding 206 state prisoners among its 978 inmates Monday, Lowery said.
Keeping a prisoner costs the county about $48 per day, but the state reimburses only $28, he said.
A proposal before the Legislature to increase that reimbursement to $34 failed earlier this year. It was sponsored by Rep. Allen Kerr, R-Little Rock, a former Pulaski County justice of the peace.
Arkansas, Pages 7, 12 on 04/28/2009