Taxpayers now know terms of the new jail contract between the city of Tulsa OK and the county.
The city will pay $45 to house prisoners facing municipal only charges. That rate applies for the first 35 inmates. After that, it goes up to $54.13 per inmate. Both sides came to an agreement Monday night and released details of the contract Tuesday. They had been operating without a contract since December 2008.
This agreement means both sides avoid heading to trial. Reaching a new contract over jail fees became such a contentious issue that the city sued the county last December. The county wanted the city to pay $54.13 for inmates facing both municipal and state charges. “That’s not the way other cities have worked, and that’s not the way our contract had worked in the past,” said Mayor Kathy Taylor. “That would have increased our cost dramatically, ten or twelve fold.” It took more than a year for both sides to agree on who qualifies as a municipal prisoner. “In the end we ended up compromising on that issue,” said county commission chair John Smaligo. “The city got the definition they wanted. From our side, we ended up getting what we felt was a fair rate.”
To save money, the city will not jail suspects arrested for non-violent offenses. “We’re looking at a good business model that prioritizes public safety but doesn’t unnecessarily place people in David L. Moss and put a strain on the Sheriff’s system,” said Taylor.
This jail agreement lasts five years.
jakking County-City Issues, Economic Issues, OK Tulsa County, Oklahoma
A full day of mediation failed to produce a new city-county jail agreement between Tulsa County and its largest city. But retired Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Daniel Boudreau, who served as the mediator, said late Wednesday that 11 hours of negotiations yielded considerable progress. The Tulsa World reports:
The main sticking point has been whether the city should begin paying a direct fee to house its inmates in the Tulsa Jail and, if so, how much. The haggling began in March 2008, when the county first proposed that the city begin paying $54.13 per inmate per day to house its inmates in the jail. Under the former agreement, which expired Nov. 30, the city paid no direct fee to house as many as 116 municipal inmates a day in the jail. In return, the city provided certain assets and services to the county for a nominal fee or at no cost …
County officials have argued that a direct fee is necessary because of the rising cost of maintaining and refurbishing the jail. In addition, they say, the assets and services provided by the city under the old agreement have no current value to the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority, which oversees operation of the jail.
jakking County-City Issues, OK Tulsa County, Oklahoma
A judge has ordered Tulsa County OK and the city of Tulsa leaders back to the negotiating table to resolve differences over a new jail agreement, according to KJRH.
The city-county jail agreement expired November 30th after months of negotiations that included two months of mediation. The main sticking point has been whether the city should begin paying a direct fee to house inmates in the jail.
jakking County-City Issues, OK Tulsa County, Oklahoma
In the continuing tussle between the city of Tulsa and the Tulsa County Jail, Mayor Kathy Taylor has made a “final offer”.
The city wants to keep up to 35 inmates in the jail daily at no cost in consideration for the $17.5 million that is generated annually within the city limits by the permanent jail sales tax, according to a copy of the three-page offer obtained through the state’s Open Records Act. That’s based on a rate of one inmate per $500,000. Under the previous contract, which expired at the end of November, the city could keep up to 116 inmates in the jail daily at no cost. The settlement offer specifies that if the average daily number of municipal inmates over a one-year period exceeds 35, the city would pay the county the same daily rate per inmate as the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. That rate is set by the state Legislature and is $27. The proposed agreement would be for a 10-year term.
Read more…
jakking County-City Issues, OK Tulsa County
One point six million dollars. That’s how much money Tulsa city would have to pony up if a new agreement isn’t reached over the Tulsa County jail. With just days left before the contract expires, negotiations are stalled and officials are scrambling to reach a compromise.
On November 30th, the 10-year contract between the city and county for operating the county jail will come to an end. And if no new contract is reached, the county may start charging the city a flat rate for each inmate. But city leaders are balking at the proposed rate – $54 per inmate per day, translating into $1.6 million a year. That’s on top of a portion of sales tax revenue the county already gets from the city. That would remain in place regardless of a new contract.
“Sheriff Glanz said he could operate the jail for $39 a day per inmate. I don’t know where they get $54,” says City Councilor Rick Westcott. “That’s simply the rate we set based on a formula we use for Federal inmates,” responds County Commissioner John Smaligo. Smaligo says the jail needs more money than it’s currently getting to offset the cost of housing city inmates. “It’s not that we’re trying to make money off the city,” says Smaligo. “On the contrary, we’re trying to offset the costs.”
While Smaligo says the rate is negotiable, Councilor Rick Westcott does not think it’s accurate because city inmates don’t receive the same services county inmates receive, because they are typically not there as long. “If $54 is a number the Federal government has arrived at for federal prisoners, that’s fine. But let’s be realistic. What are the county’s costs? What does it cost them to house a municipal prisoner? And it’s not $54,” says Westcott.
But if a new agreement isn’t reached by Sunday night, there is word the city and county could end up suing each other, costing more money for taxpayers. “In my opinion, a lawsuit is a big mistake,” says Westcott. “It shouldn’t go to that. In essence, that’s the citizens suing themselves.” City and county leaders plan on working through the weekend to agree on terms of a new contract. They say another extension is unlikely. That means, if no new contract is reached, the city may have to come up with the money to pay for its portion of the inmates. Despite the disagreement, city and county officials say public safety will not be jeopardized and the jail will continue to house city inmates.
jakking County-City Issues, OK Tulsa County
The plight of Tulsa County jail and the difficulties it has meeting the health care requirements of inmates as mandated by the Supreme Court is emblematic of the problems faced by jails big and small across the country.
The Sheriff’s Office as recently as last week warned that inmate medical costs could have a devastating effect on county budgets statewide. Under state law, jail operators are responsible for inmates’ medical care for illnesses contracted in the jail. The Sheriff’s Office paid more than $4 million to provide such services in the last fiscal year. But sheriff’s officials say it is another state statute — one that gives first-payer status to jail operators — that creates the real financial burden for jails. As first-payers, jail operators are liable for inmate medical costs related to pre-exist- ing conditions when the inmate cannot pay the bill; in addition, such status makes jail operators ineligible for Medicaid reimbursement for emergency care provided to Department of Corrections inmates, officials say. The Sheriff’s Office has spent $589,000 so far this fiscal year for medical expenses incurred outside of the jail.
But they still haven’t paid enough to stop two local hospitals filing a lawsuit against Sheriff Stanley Glanz and the Tulsa County Commission seeking nearly $650,000 in unpaid inmate medical bills. Read more from the Tulsa World.
jakking Inmate Health Care, OK Tulsa County, Oklahoma
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