Maricopa County jail fee jumping to $189.23 per day
by The Associated Press on Apr. 19, 2007, under Local, SpecialSeveral police departments in the Phoenix metropolitan area are frustrated that Maricopa County didn’t involve them in the decision to raise fees to book prisoners at the county jails by 16 percent.
“It really raises a tremendous concern for me,” Mesa Police Chief George Gascon said. “It’s quite frankly, in many cases, causing us to think who we’re going to book.”
The new booking fee is $72.33, up from $62.29. The price to house and care for an inmate will jump to $189.23 per day from $163.64 per day. The prices will take effect July 1.
Phoenix-area cities pay for the booking and housing costs for people accused of misdemeanors, such as shoplifting, prostitution and DUIs. Misdemeanors make up the bulk of arrests. The county pays fees for those charged with felonies.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the hike in March. The increase is needed mostly to cover salary increases for employees and it also will help cover operational and correctional health costs and those incurred through lawsuits against the county, officials said.
“We feel it’s a fair price,” said County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox. “We have to be very competitive (with salaries) because we have so much competition from other cities for officers. It’s still lower than running their own jail.”
The Mesa Police Department budgeted $4.6 million for county bookings this fiscal year. Officials estimate the booking and housing increases will add an extra $400,000 on next year’s budget.
Buckeye police anticipate a $32,000 increase. Phoenix estimates it will pay an average of $121,000 more a month because of the increases. That would be $880,000 monthly, up from the average of $759,000 it now pays.
Police departments in Tempe, Scottsdale and Peoria don’t yet know how the increase will impact them.
Several city officials said the county should include them in discussions before they increase booking fees. Some agencies already had their budgets set for next year and now must revise them.
