MAYOR'S MESSAGE

Craig A. Stough 8/11/06

"Prisoner Transport Agreement Approved"

The City of Sylvania is faced with rising jail costs for prisoners arrested within the city limits and now must pay Lucas County for prisoner transport cost as well. As a city, Sylvania is obligated to pay these costs of prisoner incarceration. Township prisoners, on the other hand, are paid for by Lucas County with the county taxes we all pay.

During their meeting on July 17, 2006, Sylvania City Council approved a contract for prisoner transport with Lucas County in the amount of $17,031.04 for 2006. Prior to 2006, Lucas County provided prisoner transport for City prisoners between the Lucas County Corrections Center and Sylvania Municipal Court at no cost to the City of Sylvania. Because Lucas County is already providing prisoner transport for their prisoners, the transport of the City's average of five prisoners per week is far more economical for them to provide than for the Sylvania Police to do separately. This expense of $17,031.04 is a new expense to the City's budget.

The Lucas County Commissioners have also continued to raise the prisoner housing costs for 2006 to "better reflect actual costs" to house prisoners in the Lucas County Corrections Center and the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio (CCNO) in Stryker, Ohio.

We have a contract with Lucas County for one pre-trial bed at the Corrections Center in downtown Toledo. The daily contract rate is $89.13 per day, up from $86.12, for an annual contract cost of $32,532.45. We have a contract for 5 beds at CCNO. The rate per bed for 2006 increased from $63.76 per day to $65.59 for an annual contract cost of $119,701.75. For all prisoners we send to CCNO in excess of the five, we pay a premium rate of $75.43 per day per prisoner, which is up from the 2005 daily rate of $73.32.

The cost of prisoner jail time continues to rise, and the cost of prisoner transport is a new expense to our City budget. Although these expenses are a requirement of the City to pay, we will continue to explore options, such as video arraignment, to control or reduce the expense for Sylvania taxpayers as much as possible.