Preston County Commission makes request to defer jail fees until December

KINGWOOD — Preston Commissioners, who have already frozen some expenses, faced another increase in the county’s regional jail bill Tuesday.

The bill for $98,526.50 covered expenses for Preston prisoners in jail in March. Last month’s bill was $83,327.75, and bills were $84,823.50 in February, $72,436.50 in January, back to a low of $55,728.75 in September 2019.

Preston’s total regional jail bill for this fiscal year to date is $636,996.50. It has a total of $825,000 budgeted for jail fees. It is, County Administrator Kathy Mace said, the county’s largest single expense other than personnel.

The commission started April by freezing all new hiring, all non-essential work-related travel, non-essential overtime in all departments and all non-essential expenditures.

It also asked the state to allow it to pay only a portion of regional jail fees at this time, deferring the rest to be paid by Dec. 31, which is halfway through the new fiscal year.

When taking the action, commissioners said taxes are coming in slower than usual, likely because of the coronavirus impact.

“I have not gotten back a response from the state on our request,” Mace said Tuesday.

She said a large number of grand jury indictments and changes in the way the courts do business may have added to the number in jail.

The county is sending out a lot of correspondence, asking for details about possible federal and state relief funds in the form of business loans and aid to families, Mace said.

“There’s a lot of confusion about what’s coming down the pike as far as assistance,” she said. “It’s going to take all of us working together.”

Commission President Samantha Stone praised the Preston Office of Emergency Mangement/911 for ensuring those in the field have personal protective equipment. Commissioner Don Smith said businesses are doing a good job of looking out for their employees.

One affect of the governor’s stay home orders has been the cancellation or postponement of fundraisers depended on by Preston’s volunteer fire departments, Mace said.

“We have reached out to just about everybody we can think of from the state level to the federal to try and get some relief,” for the volunteers, Mace said.

She has suggested fire departments gather figures, showing how much they may have lost without the fundraisers, so it will be ready to document if aid becomes available.

The commission, which in past years has given fire departments $2,250 per year, eliminated the donation in the 2020-21 fiscal year that starts July 1, citing declining county funds.

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