Wednesday, November 28, 2001
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Wednesday, November 28, 2001 |
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Cities may back off jail agreement By DAVE HAMRICK
While county commissioners meet today at 8 a.m. to discuss their agreement with Fayetteville concerning joint use of the County Jail, city leaders may be backing away from the discussion. The agreement, in place since 1994, expires at the end of the year, and coming up with a new one has been one of several sore spots in relations between the county and its three largest cities in recent years. County officials want to start charging fees to house prisoners sentenced by municipal courts for violating city ordinances, but city officials argue that their residents already pay plenty of taxes to operate the jail. The division brought about the downfall of plans last year to charge impact fees collected from developers to help pay the cost of new government facilities and services made necessary by growth for construction of the new County Jail. With expiration of the agreement looming, officials from Fayetteville and the county came up with parameters for a new agreement in meetings over the last two weeks, and agreed to present those ideas to the County Commission and City Council. In the meantime, Fayetteville officials presented the proposal to officials from Peachtree City and Tyrone last Tuesday. "Nothing is decided yet 100 percent," said Fayetteville City Manager Joe Morton this week. But consensus among those discussing the matter last week was that "the jail issue is part of the overall tax inequity issue," said Morton. County and city leaders have been locking horns for about three years now over the tax equity question, with city officials adamantly maintaining that their residents are paying taxes for services they're not receiving about $2 million worth. County officials are equally adamant that there is no tax inequity, or if there is, it's county residents who are on the short end. The issue came to a boil after the state Legislature passed a new law requiring that cities and counties develop joint strategies for how the tax money is divided and how the services are delivered. After talks to resolve the issue broke down last year, city leaders this year filed a formal request for mandatory mediation, and a visiting judge has granted that request (see related story). "That's going to go to mediation," said Morton, "and consensus is that [the jail issue] be addressed as part of that." Mayor Kenneth Steele said he will send a letter to the commission asking that the current agreement be extended for six months while the overall tax equity issue is mediated. "We've been encouraged by the positive tone of the discussions," said Steele, "but we do have a mediator now." City Council will likely get an update on the matter during its work session this Thursday, Morton said.
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