Sheriff Announces Increase in Jail "Room and Board" Fees
Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson talking about the prison population Thursday, March 31, 2011, at Black Hawk County Jail in Waterloo. (Kenny Knutson/SourceMedia Group News)
By
Aaron Hepker
Story Created:
Jan 27, 2012 at 4:49 PM CST
Story Updated:
Jan 28, 2012 at 11:31 AM CST
WATERLOO, Iowa - Sheriff Tony Thompson announced Friday that effective Wednesday the Black Hawk County Jail will be increasing its "per day" room and board fees from $65 to $70.
Thompson indicates that this fee, which is allowed by Iowa Code (Chapter 356.7) for recouping the actual administrative costs for booking and room and board of a prisoner, has not been increased since the day that it was initiated in 1997.
The sheriff estimates that the current "per day" actual costs for housing inmates to be in the area of $72.50 to $74 per day.
"While we are not able to exceed our actual costs for rooming and housing inmates, I feel it is appropriate to attempt to collect a reimbursement near the actual costs to taxpayers for feeding, clothing, and housing our sentence serving inmates," said Thompson.
"This is yet another area where county government can be more effective and have greater impact. We have increased our budgetary revenues nearly $500,000 over the past three years, and I continue to look for ways to keep this trend going."
The Sheriff's Office room and board fees have seen continual increasing revenues over the past three years, averaging $22,619 per month in 2008. Today, this revenue has exceeded $33,000 on a monthly average. He said he attributes this growth to more aggressive collections of the fees owed to the office and the taxpayers.
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